Fire and Ice
by NinjaDino721
Summary: When MIM tells the guardians that their youngest addition is in danger with a rumored extinct creature. Jack, not wanting to be stuck as helpless, sneaks off to defeat the dragon searching to destroy him. But what happens when everything thought about the creature had been wrong? how will Jack protect his new friend? And where is the true threat? Bad at summaries!
1. Chapter 1

_**WOOHOO! I LOVE this movie… I may or may not have already seen it three times **___

_**Anywho, I hope you like this story, it's been swimming in the back of my mind for a while now and I just had to type it out.**_

_** Just a word of caution… I am a very slow updater since I am working on two other fanfics as well as this one. I know I should be working on the others rather than starting a new one BUT I CAN'T HELP IT!**_

_** Anyway, I will try to update every weekend or so but don't count on it because I have school starting back up tomorrow and swimming afterwards everyday… so be nice. Anyhow ENJOY!**_

"FROST!" North flinched as Bunny's voice cascaded through the halls of his workshop.

"Why all of the guardian meetings must be held at Pole, I will never know." He mumbled to himself.

North sat in his office, using his miniscule hammer to etch a face into the ice-doll's smooth head. It was the only way he could keep himself calm at a time like this. Manny had signaled him to call the guardians for a reason still unknown. North couldn't help but be unnerved. Had Pitch returned? It had only been a year since they had defeated him, surely he couldn't have gathered his strength already. Could he?

The large man let out a sigh of exasperation and marveled at his work.

The doll's face was beautiful (like most of North's work) and glimmered under the overhanging light of the room. Icy curls ran to her chin and her eyes were open wide with wonder, much like his own.

He didn't know why he had decided on this design, sometimes ideas just hit him like that, like he had to get the image out of his head. North set the doll aside and fiddled with another piece of ice which he had earlier made a train out of, a replicate of the one his Yeti had once smashed the year before near Easter.

"Jabbakubra!" Phil slammed the door open.

North had not been expecting the explosion of noise and dropped the train to the floor. Ice shattered everywhere. "Gah!" North exclaimed, gesturing at the broken toy.

"AAAH!" The Yeti screamed, his mouth hanging open in an 'O' shape. "Gabbajubaru!" He began blabbering.

"You must learn to knock!" North reminded him for the umpteenth time just that week. Phil retorted with another burst of blubbers, waving his arms around and gesturing to the workshop. "Guardians are all here?" North translated. The Yeti nodded exasperated. "Well why did you not say so!" North shouted, jumping from his desk, almost knocking the glass doll off in the process.

Phil watched as North beamed and strutted out of the room with no care in the world. "Ungh!" He groaned.

"North!" Tooth called as the large man walked into the room where the others sat. Sandman materialized a question mark above his head out of some of his dream sand and raised a gold eyebrow. Tooth fluttered around, directing multiple fairies to different parts of the world. Jack and Bunny looked to be arguing on the other side of the room. North couldn't hear them but he could tell by Jack's smirk and Bunny's furrowed eyebrows that they were not conversing in a friendly way.

"Guardians!" North shouted, raising his arms to get everyone's attention. Jack stuck his tongue out at Bunny quickly before winking and taking off to join the other guardians in the center of the room. Bunnymund simply rolled his eyes and hopped over as well.

"North, what's this about? Not all of us work only one day a year. Am I right Sandy?" Tooth said. Sandy gave a shy shrug and a face that said basically the same thing.

"Hey!" Jack, the newest recruit, exclaimed.

"Oh yes, and Jack." Tooth added, giggling lightly as she added this. Jack smirked and leaned back against his staff.

"Yeah, what's goin' on mate?" Bunny asked.

Everyone seemed to have been thinking the same thing because they all nodded and stared at North as if searching for the answers written on his tattooed arms. North took a deep breath before giving his answer.

"I… do not know… Cookie?" North offered, grabbing the large plate of treats from one of his elves. The rest of the guardians simply stared at him as he nonchalantly grabbed a large chocolate-chip cookie and made it disappear inside his beard where his mouth had spontaneously appeared.

"You don't know?" Bunny asked. North was sure he saw an eye twitch with that one. "Waddaya mean ya don't know?"

"I do not know." North stated simply. "Man in moon told me to call you all here. He did not, however tell me why."

"Manny told you to call us?" Tooth asked softly. A twinge of guilt hit everybody as Jack shifted uncomfortably to the side, pretending to take a sudden interest in his staff. They all knew the Man in the moon hadn't spoken to the winter spirit ever since he was reborn as Jack Frost. Even after Jack had become a guardian, he still seemed distant with the others. Sure he visited from time to time, but he had never truly connected with anyone, especially MIM. But three-hundred years tends to have that impact on a person, he would warm up to the others eventually.

"Yer tellin' me we're here because Manny, for some unexplained reason called us all together in this bone chillin' place o' yours? No offence." Bunny stated blankly, the cold and waiting finally getting on his last nerves.

"Why would I be offended? It's not my fault it is cold in pole." North said, offering a new distraction.

All eyes turned to Jack who paused mid bite into a cookie which was probably covered in elf slobber. "You don't think that's my fault do you? I control snow, not temperature. You all can go yell at Mother Nature for that… or physics…" Jack seemed to fall into a state of deep confusion before snapping himself out of it. "So when are we going to find out why we're here anyway?" He asked, unnaturally floating up and perching himself atop the crook of his staff as if it were the most normal thing in the world for him to do (which, in Jack's case, was not surprising.)

A loud jingle sounded from behind everyone. All eyes darted to an annoyed Sandy who held a now discombobulated elf in his small hand. Silently sighing as is saying 'finally!' a yellow arrow appeared above his head pointing upward.

North followed the arrow's direction when he saw the moon shining through one of his large windows. "Ah! Man in moon! Sandy, why did you not mention before?" He asked playfully receiving an overly stressed eye roll and a sarcastic look from the little man.

Jack looked up at the mention of MIM as if he wasn't expecting him to actually 'show up.'

"Finally." Bunny grumbled.

"Oh, he's here! Girls, girls, shh I need to listen!" Tooth cried, struggling to keep the chirping of her fairies subdued. Unfortunately, her requests did nothing to quiet the flittering fairies. "Uhh… Baby Tooth!" The fairy, which had been perched on Jack's shoulder, looked up at the sound of her name. "You're in charge!" Tooth finished quickly before releasing herself from the mob of color to join North at the window.

Baby Tooth squeaked as the mob darted at her and Jack, causing the boy to fall off of his perch and crumple to the ground, forgetting his ability to float. "Gah!" He exclaimed, being caught off guard when bombarded by the minis."Sorry Baby Tooth!" Jack apologized as he made to join the others, leaving an alarmed Baby Tooth behind in the swarm of vicious tooth fairies. The fairy let out one last squeal of discontent before being overtaken by the army of hummingbird people.

Approaching the others, who had surrounded themselves around the Guardian symbol etched on the floor, Jack realized just how serious this situation was. Everyone was facing the moon, each face basked in the pale moonlight.

All eyes focused on the man in the moon as the rays slowly lit the rest of the room. Jack stepped back, almost uncomfortable by the instant silence and light of the ones who had ignored him so many years before. The rays of the moon passed Jack reluctantly as if Manny had been offended by the teen's rejection of his light, but slowly, they passed him and made their way to the symbol.

Upon reaching the large circle on the floor, the rays of the moon seemed to grow brighter as well as the metal plaque everyone had been surrounding before. After several seconds of nothing, North turned to face the window once again. "Manny! What is it you are trying to tell us?" There was no answer.

"So… what now?" Jack asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Bunny shot him an annoyed look. "Listen Frostbite, Manny may not always have answered your pleas for attention, but when it comes to something important enough to signal us all here, he'll come through." He snapped.

Jack lifted his eyebrows in shock before scoffing and floating over to one of the smaller windows, perching himself on the ledge and staring out at the snow. Still, even with North's constant questioning, the moon had not answered. Jack could hear Tooth scolding Bunny in the corner of the room and the fairies were still chirping loudly, even the silence was getting to Jack.

Pulling up his hood, Jack closed his eyes, trying to tune out everything and everyone in the room. Tapping his staff to the cool glass, spindly webs of floral frost covered the pane and overflowed onto the ledge on which the boy sat.

Jack turned to look at the others. Sandy had joined in on the bickering between Tooth and Bunny as golden figures began popping above his head at a furious rate while North was pacing back and forth talking to himself, trying to figure out what the Man in the moon was trying to tell them.

Suddenly, Jack felt a jolt from beneath him. "Uh, guys?" He began, but they were all too caught up in their own problems to notice the slow rumble that was emanating from the floor. Jack stood up and pulled his hood off, deciding that he had nothing better to do than investigate.

Another rumble shook the ground with subtle force. Jack turned to see a stray moonbeam lingering to his right. As if noticing that Jack had seen it, the beam slowly moved to North's large fireplace which was now unnaturally sputtering flame and sparks.

"Guys!" Jack shouted, not taking his eyes from the growing fire.

"Jack, what is it?" Tooth asked in her motherly voice.

"The fireplace." He answered flatly, pointing the crook of his staff at the sputtering flame.

"Of course!" North exclaimed. "Manny, why did you not just say something?" Sandy rolled his eyes at the oblivious man as the other guardians began to crowd around the fire place.

Jack backed away, allowing the cool air to wash over him again, he could not stand the heat of the fire. In fact, he was secretly afraid that too much heat might cause him to melt.

As soon as the last guardian had situated himself, the fire burst out, swirling about the room before settling in the center of the guardians and slowly shifting into the shape of what looked to Jack like a lizard with wings. "What is it?" Jack asked just as the monster let out a dangerous snarl.

"That's a dragon mate." Bunny responded.

"But they're extinct! Aren't they?" Tooth asked, her purple eyes wide with fear and confusion.

The picture shifted so that there were now two figures standing around the dragon. One was Jack. The creature reared and snarled before darting at the guardian and enveloping the hooded boy with a curved stick in hand in flame. The Creature looked up from the floor and roared before turning and racing back to the fire place where it had come from, leaving only the calm fire that had once been there before.

Shocked looks were plastered upon everyone's face as they shared looks of confusion and fear before turning to face Jack. The silence and empty stares creeping on him like a spider, Jack simply gave his signature cocky look. "Well _that_ was emotionally scarring." He said, receiving no more than an awkward cough from one of the Yetis in the background.

"Ya Gumby _**(A/N)**_! Do ya know what this means?!" Bunny shouted, breaking the lingering silence. Jack shook his head.

"Jack." The teen turned to face North. "I want you to go with Phil to the guest room. Get some sleep."

"But what about the-"He started, only to be cut off by North's serious scowl. Phil walked over, placing a furry hand on the young guardian's shoulder before leading him from the room. Jack was reluctant, but turned to follow the Yeti out of the room.

As soon as the door closed and Jack was sure to be out of hearing range, North turned back to the surprised faces of the other guardians. "Jack's in trouble."

_**(A/N) Gumby means foolish and unintelligent… just in case you didn't know. ;)**_

_** What do you think? Anyone too out of character? I know the whole fire thing was confusing but that's kinda how I roll… I get an insane idea that even I don't understand and I go with it. Anyway, Please REVIEW and PLEASE no flames.**_

_**Til next time!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wow, up already! I can't wait to write the next chapter! The mysterious dragon will appear at last. Although if you're reading my **__**How to Train Your Dragon**__** Fic, you will kinda know who it is but not quite as helpless as I made them in that story… NO NOT TOOTHLESS! Although I kinda wish I could bring him in **___

_** Anywho, this chapter is a little slow but it is leading into a really exciting story!**_

"Ugh!" Jack groaned loudly, falling back onto the bed in the guest bedroom North had given him from time to time. Phil rolled his eyes at the overly dramatic teen and stumbled off back to the room where the other guardians were conversing.

Jack sat up and fiddled with his staff, tapping random objects around the room causing them to freeze over with the spiraled frost. Tapping the staff to the floor rhythmically and sending ice pulsing across the floor and up the walls until the entire room was covered in frost and snow.

"Ugh, this is taking so long." He grumbled to himself after an entire five minutes of solitary. "Wait." He thought, pausing with the rhythmic beats of his spindly staff. "Why am I still here? I'm a guardian too."

With that, the winter spirit pushed himself from the bed and walked to the door. Jack winced as the heavy board creaked under the stress of its own weight upon the frame causing him to freeze, listening for any signs that anyone had heard him. Hearing nothing, Jack hesitantly peered out into the hallway and, seeing no one, shot down the long corridor until he had finally come upon the room where the other guardians were gathered around the fireplace that had been ablaze only ten minutes ago but was now nothing more than a calm flame, crackling slightly as it ate at the wood being constantly fed into it.

The door lay slightly ajar so that Jack could only make out the shadows against the walls and the backs of a few of the older guardians including Tooth's ever fluttering wings.

Over to the side, the mob of colorful fairies had split into an ordered circle where Baby Tooth flitted in the center, squeaking out orders and sending the others off into the night to collect the teeth. Jack chuckled at the sight of the small fairy commanding the others when just moments ago she had been chirping for help when he left the 'helpless' Baby Tooth behind to deal with the swarm.

Catching sight of Bunny's moving shadow and flopping ears to the side, Jack brought his attention back to the problem at hand, listening to the other guardians.

…

"Jack's in trouble." North stated as soon as he was sure Jack was out of hearing distance and the Yeti's footsteps had faded away down the halls as he led the young teen to the guest room now serving as Jack's distraction.

"What do you mean?" Tooth asked fretfully, she had always looked at the youngest guardian as a child who needed constant caring for, her motherly figure for the boy had obviously rubbed off on the others as they stared at North with concern pain in their eyes.

"Do none of you know what that was?!" North shouted, gesturing his hands at the fireplace which was now nothing more than the normal crackling of a flame. Everybody shook their heads. North sighed.

"Man in moon has only used the fire once to speak to me, and that was long… long time ago." He started, sitting down in his large red chair to explain. "It was when I was young, before guardianship. I was in workshop in Russia, making toys for the little boys and girls in my village when, all of a sudden BOOM!"

Tooth gasped. "Your workshop exploded?!" She asked shyly, both her hands patting her heart as if it was to astonishing to hear.

"No no no, Tooth, you misunderstand me." North assured her, shaking his hands as if to shoo the thought away. Tooth let out a sigh of relief. "My fireplace did."

Sandy raised an eyebrow and gestured to the fire still crackling behind him.

"Yes, just as this did. At first I feared for my toys, what if they caught fire? But they didn't. Instead a shape came out of the smoke, filling up the room but not touching a thing. I thought I would choke, but I did not!"

"Wait, smoke?" Bunny interrupted.

"Yes, it is what the fire makes when it had burned something it floats and is black and-"

"No, I know what smoke is mate." Bunny said, cutting off North. "What I mean is you said that Manny used the _fire _to speak to you, what's with the smoke? It could have just been a clogged chimney or somethin'." The large rabbit stated, lifting one of his back feet to scratch behind his ear.

North rolled his eyes. "Must I explain everything? The smoke was just beginning! It swirled around my room and I knew, it was evil!" Bunny raised an eyebrow, still clearly unimpressed.

"Let me guess, you could feel it in yer belly." He said sarcastically.

North opened his mouth to retort but snapped it shut before mumbling. "Yes." Bunny scoffed and sandy rolled his eyes, smiling for North to continue. "But, the smoke shifted into a shape! A dark figure that laughed and whose eyes glowed like coals."

"Pitch." Tooth guessed.

North nodded. "It was Pith Black! Man in moon was telling me about his threat against the children. _Then_…" North paused to give Bunny a look. "Out of the flame, came a sleigh. A beautiful sleigh with reindeer pulling it into the sky and tiny wrapped boxes falling into the children's hands before the smoke figure vanished! After this message, I knew what I had to do. I had to spread wonder and happiness in the children's hearts so that fear no longer overpowered their minds. And I became guardian." North sat up, locking his fingers together and looking at the others, waiting for a response.

No one said anything. Bunny twitched his nose nervously while Sandy and Tooth merely shifted their gazes so that they never landed on one object for too long.

Finally, Bunny spoke up. "So… what's this gotta do with Frostbite?"

"Yeah, I mean, your message was about becoming a guardian, not that that wasn't a wonderful story by the way." Tooth quickly apologized, causing North to chuckle to himself. "But Jack is already a guardian, and I'm fairly sure dragons are extinct. Right?"

"I guess not." Bunny stated. "But why would Jack be in danger?"

"Man in moon does not always explain why he does something, but if he sees this creature as a threat to Jack, we must protect him no matter what the circumstances. Do not let him out of your sight."

"What?" Everybody froze at the hushed voice. Bunny sat up on his haunches, twisting his ears. Listening for any other noise.

"Someone else is here." He whispered. The guardians reaction was instant. North leapt up, grabbing his swords and thrusting them into the air, Bunny reached for his polished boomerangs and egg bombs, Tooth and her fairies sat in a battle stance while Sandy threw out golden whips of dream sand.

"Oops." The voice mumbled as if it hadn't meant to be heard.

"Gabbhubanama!" The door burst open. All of the guardians reacted at once, leaping back and aiming their weapons at the furry beast which now stood completely still with both hands in the air, one containing a certain struggling white haired teen.

"Jack!" North shouted. "You were listening to conversation?" A menacing frown spreading across the man's usual jolly face.

Jack folded his arms, still hanging by the hood of his navy blue jacket as the Yeti still held its arms up in the air while the weapons were still pointed at his furry body. "No." The boy retorted. The Yeti raised an eyebrow, dropping one arm and turning the boy to face him.

"Jabbakumahabra!" It shouted.

Jack stared down. "Okay, I was, but you shouldn't have left me out of the conversation in the first place!" He said.

North sighed in defeat and dropped both arms to his side, the swords clanging against the floor. "You can go Hugo." He said to the Yeti. Hugo nodded and turned to leave. "No, ugh! You go, boy stays!"

The Yeti turned and gave North a quizzical look before realizing that He was still dragging Jack behind him. "Oh! Gabbakuba!" He said, dropping the boy and patting his white hair down before running out the door in embarrassment.

Jack bent down to pick up his staff which had been discarded during the fiasco and brushed it off as if it had been suddenly covered in dust. He shoved a hand in his pocket and leaned against the door frame, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"Jack, you were not meant to hear that conversation." North stated. "That was between the guardians and-"

"_I'm _a guardian too!" Jack shouted, looking up and trapping North's gaze in his ice cold stare. His eyes looked more than angry, they looked furious and confused and hurt all at the same time, North felt as if he had just been stabbed in the chest with how much emotion Jack could hold.

"Jack, you know that's not what he meant." Tooth said, her calming tone sending Jack's gaze back to his staff.

"What does it want with me?" Jack whispered.

"We don't know Frostbite. We're still tryin' ta figure that one out." Bunny said, his voice, for once, not holding even an ounce of sarcasm in it.

"Don't worry Jack, we'll find it and-"

Jack held up a hand, stopping Tooth at once, her face dropping into a hurt frown. "I'm glad you all show a sudden interest in my safety now that the _moon _has told you, but I can take care of myself."

North flinched in distaste at how Jack said 'moon.' He knew Jack wasn't on best terms with MIM, but to show so much distrust hurt to even think about.

"If the message was really about me, I think I deserved to know why."

Sandy stepped in this time, gesturing to the rest of the guardians and making a question mark pop up above his head.

"Sandy is right Jack, we do not even know why Man in moon has sent this message. All we know is that you are in danger, and to protect you, you will stay here, with me at the pole." North translated.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows and clutched his beloved staff with both hands tightly. "I don't need to be protected and I need to be out there anyways, I've lost enough time here already when I told Jamie I would visit him during his winter break!" He pleaded.

Tooth stared at Jack, sadness written clear in her purple eyes. "Jack, we only want what's best for you. Please, at least for the next week, stay here with North until we can get this thing figured out."

Jack huffed before lifting his gaze to meet Tooth's large pleading eyes. "Ugh! Fine, but just one week!" Jack agreed before darting out of the room and down the corridor. North winced as he heard the slam of the heavy door in the distance.

"Well that went better than expected." All eyes turned to Bunny. "Just tryin' ta liven up the mood here." He murmured. Sandy smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Come on guys." Tooth interjected, always being the one with the plan. "We have one week to find out what's going on before Jack gets back out there and into the face of danger again. We need to figure out exactly what this thing is and what it wants with our Jack." The other guardians nodded and gathered around the fluttering fairy to figure out the rest of the plan.

…

"I can totally take care of myself." Jack mumbled to himself as he paced his ever freezing room. "I don't need them to protect me, and I certainly don't need you." He added, scowling at the moon from his frosty window. A pang of guilt struck him in the chest and he plopped down on the bed. He knew the other guardians were only trying to help him, maybe even the moon had decided to start giving Jack the attention he had used to so desperately desire. But after three-hundred years of solitude, human…ish contact almost seemed too much for the teen.

"I'll show them." Jack said, his everlasting smile set into a determined line. "I can find that dragon thing and take it down before they even notice I'm gone." Smiling to himself, Jack planned to leave as soon as the guardians had cleared out and North was too busy with the factory to ever notice he had even left.

_**Bunny is my favorite! If Jack is a little out of character it is because he is a teenager who is in a never-ending puberty stage. Just kidding, it will get better I promise.**_

_**PLEASE review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Oh my gosh I love you guys so much!**_

_**I love all of the reviews and favorites/follows I get and it has been pushing me to update this story every night! My other ones are updated every few weeks or so but I just love writing this one so much!**_

Jack paced the floor, waiting for the large stomping footsteps to cease. His chance had finally come to find that creature bent to destroy him for a reason the guardians still hadn't figured out when they had left both North and Jack at the Pole.

More booming footsteps echoed through the halls as North retired back to his office. Finally the sound of North's heavy wooden door slammed shut and the sound of the locks clicking into place could be heard.

"Finally." He whispered to himself, turning to the now open window. "Hey wind." He called quietly, hopping onto the ledge and grasping his staff tightly in his palms. The wind swirled around him, pouring into the room and stirring up snow, throwing it into his already chilly room before picking the boy up of the ledge and awaiting a command. "I need to find this creature called a dragon." He said, pronouncing the foreign word as clearly as he possibly could.

The wind instantly dropped him to the floor, causing the unsuspecting Jack to let out a cry of surprise. "Come on! I need to find whatever this thing is before the other guardians do." He explained, standing up and dusting the wayward snow off of his brown pants.

The wind slowly picked up again, now just a breeze as if trying to persuade the young guardian not to go. "I'm going to go try to find it anyway, whether you help me or not." Jack stated, causing the cool wind to swirl around him again in protest. "I just thought it'd be faster if you took me. You do know where it is don't you?" He asked.

The wind stopped and for a moment, Jack thought it had left him completely before it picked him up suddenly and thrust him out the window. Jack smiled, steadying himself so that he could face forward as he soared above the clouds.

"Thanks wind, I owe you one." He said. Jack was jostled a bit as if to warn Jack the dangers of this mission. "Yeah yeah." He smiled, studying himself once more. "Where are we going anyway?"

…

"Snow! Brr." A little three year-old with messy blonde hair and a shiny red nose called as she stomped through the ice, grasping the large hand she held onto tightly like a lifeline since she practically skidded every few steps.

"You like the snow Soph?" Sophie looked up and grinned at the red haired teenager grasping her left hand and nodded.

"Hop hop hop!" She shouted, jumping up and down through the crunchy white crystals before shivering abruptly and chattering her small teeth.

"Looks like the little bunny's getting cold." The red-head laughed, bending down and lifting the girl into her arms, carrying her across the street and up to the front porch of the little girl's red house and knocking on the door.

The door swung open. "Eden!"

"Hey Jamie!" Eden exclaimed, reaching out her extra arm to give the young boy a hug. "Is your mom home yet?" She asked.

"Oh, Eden, you're a life saver!" Cried a voice from the other room. Mrs. Bennet rushed over and plucked Sophie from the teen's tired arm. "Thank you so much for bringing Sophie home from daycare, I just got back myself from work and the roads are just so icy nowadays." She said.

"That's because I asked Jack Frost to come this break." Jamie said, a large toothy grin spreading across his ten year-old face.

Eden lifted a quizzical eyebrow. "You know Jack Frost?" She asked, bending down and staring at the boy, giving him a look of dismay and curiosity.

"Yeah, I helped him and the other guardians defeat Pitch last Easter! And afterwards he became the guardian of fun and-"

"Now Jamie." Mrs. Bennet stopped the boy short, ruffling his long brown hair. "Kids." She said, shaking her head and giving a wink.

"I didn't imagine it Mom!" Jamie retorted. "The guardians are real."

"Hey." Eden tapped his arm to get his attention. He turned around with a frustrated scowl. "I believe you." She said

Jamie's eyes lit up instantly. "Really!" Eden nodded, her red curls bobbing at her chin.

"But did you really defeat the Boogeyman?" She asked, wiggling her fingers to exaggerate the 'Boogeyman' part.

Jamie nodded again and opened his mouth to say something when something started ringing. Eden looked up and pulled her purple phone from her pocket. "Hello?" She answered quickly before sighing melodramatically. "Okay, be there in a bit." She finished and hung up. "Sorry Jamie, but Vid is making dinner tonight and I've gotta go grocery shopping." She said.

Jamie huffed but couldn't hold in his smile. "Okay, but come back soon okay?"

"You got it dude! And then you can finish your story." She winked at him. "Bye Mrs. Bennet!" She called through the house before opening the door and running back out into the cold of the crisp December day.

Jamie smiled, Eden had been the Bennet's babysitter since before Sophie was even born. Their mothers were co-workers and had known each other since the Bennets had moved to Burgess twelve years ago.

Jamie turned and headed up the stairs an into his bedroom, intent on finally passing beating Bowser on Mario Kart. Upon turning on the small DSi, a small knock on his window captured his attention. A large smile caught his lips before he even turned around, he knew what it was outside the window.

"Jack!" He cried, racing to open the glass fixture.

Jack climbed into the room, making the area instantly chilly, but Jamie didn't care, he wrapped his arms around his favorite guardian. "I knew you'd come!" He said.

Jack ruffled his hair and stood up. "Well I did promise didn't I?" He said with a smirk.

Jamie nodded. "So what's happening, with you guardians I mean? Is there another bad guy? Is Santa ready for Christmas yet, it's only three days away. Do you think-"

"Wow wow, slow down there Jame." The winter spirit chuckled. "To be truthful, I'm actually not supposed to be here right now." He whispered, as if someone might hear him.

"Why not?" Jamie asked, shooting Jack a quizzical look.

"The Man in the moon sent the guardians a message yesterday that was apparently about me being in danger of a…" Jack paused and dropped his face into a serious glare. "Dragon." He said in an overly dramatic voice, shaking it like Eden had with the Boogeyman.

"Dragons are real? That's so cool!" Jamie jumped from his bed.

"What is a dragon anyway?" Jack asked.

Jamie just stared at him, as if that was the strangest thing anyone had asked him. "You honestly don't know what a dragon is?" Jack shook his head and leaned against the window sill as if getting comfortable and awaited Jamie's explanation.

The ten year-old stood up and raced to his bookshelf, pulling down one of his many books on mythological creatures including Genies, Wizards, and Dragons. He flipped it open to a page with a large picture of the creature.

"That's what I saw in the moon's message." Jack said. "Is that what it is?" Jamie nodded.

"How can someone live three-hundred years and never hear of a dragon? Honestly, besides mermaids, it's probably one of the most popular mythological creatures ever heard of."

Jack shrugged. "After I realized no one could see or hear me, I never really engaged with conversations or cultures, I just kinda froze stuff most of the time." He smirked, spinning his trusty staff like a baton and tapping it to the floor, creating a patch of ice where it hit as if to make a point.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Well if one of these is after you, you must really be in danger. These things are meant to be ferocious." He said, holding his fingers out like claws. "You should take this." He pushed to book towards Jack, who took it and leafed through the pages as if absorbing its content.

"Thanks." He said. "I'll give it back after this whole fiasco is over. Actually, not to ruin the moment or anything, but I hadn't planned on coming here today." Jamie raised an eyebrow. "I mean I was going to come during the break don't worry, I would stow away in North's bag if I had to." He assured him. "But I asked the wind to lead me to the dragon thing and it brought me to Burgess and I figured I'd pay you a visit while I was here."

"That's strange." Jamie commented, receiving a nod from the teen. "Does that mean there's a ferocious dragon in Burgess?"

"I guess so." Jack shrugged, so be careful out there, okay Jame, Sophie too."

Jamie nodded. "I will. I should probably tell Eden too." He mumbled.

"Who?"

Jamie looked up. "My babysitter, she's amazing! I've known her for years, and she believes in the guardians!"

"Is that so?" Jack said, clearly skeptical of a teenager believing in a guardian.

"No really, I started to tell her about how we all helped you defeat Pitch, and she already knew who Pitch was." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Like, I called him 'Pitch' and all of a sudden she starts talking about the Boogeyman, as if she knew all along!"

"Hmm, that is strange. You'll have to introduce us after this whole thing blows over.

Jamie nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You would love her, she's so fun and loves playing games like a kid."

Jack smiled. "How does she feel about snow?"

…

"Cold cold cold cold…" Eden mumbled to herself. She was freezing despite the many layers she wore over her chilled skin. A bulky red coat covered her arms and blue mittens were wrapped around two paper grocery bags as she made her way home from the store.

She could feel snow soaking through her fuzzy boots and her nose was red and too cold to feel anymore. Regardless the fact that she was already sixteen, Eden's face still held the same childlike smirk and large, vibrant green eyes she had when she was younger and her short red hair, although not as crazy as it used to be, lay spindling around, cascading down the back of her neck, held in place by one of her many knit hats.

She shivered and chattered her teeth, laughing at how much she resembled how Sophie sounded earlier when walking her home from daycare. Lucky for Mrs. Bennet, Eden had been on her way from her part-time job at the book store downtown and passing Sophie's daycare building when Videre called, asking her to pick up the little girl for Mrs. Bennet since the ice on the roads had gotten so bad.

Not to pick favorites over the other children Eden often babysat, but the Bennet children had always been her favorite. She had started watching them when she was only twelve and Jamie was six years old, Sophie hadn't even been born until two years later.

Mr. Bennet was gone a lot being in the Army took its toll on the family, but they had not moved since settling in Burgess, making quick friends between Jamie and the child-like teenager.

Eden's Childhood had ended pretty early, her innocence lost long ago when her birth parents were murdered when she was only seven. Videre had adopted her a year later when the nomadic girl had wandered behind her house to sleep a restless night.

Eden had ever since tried to relive the childhood she never had, spending as much time with children as she could and believing in the magic that so obviously surrounded her.

But being one of the last of your kind will do that when you're the chosen one of the last dragons in the world.

_**YAAAAY!**_

_**Please review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Another chapter Horaaaay!**_

_**I really enjoyed writing this chapter and hope you guys like it!**_

North sat at his desk, transfixed on the ice doll he had worked on earlier on that day. In hopes of distracting himself from the problem at hand as it made his head throb with great pain. If the message had been about anyone else, North wouldn't be so worried.

The guardians could all take care of themselves with ease and knew when to accept help when they needed it. But of course, the message had to refer to Jack, the youngest and most stubborn spirit North had ever met.

He said he could take care of himself when the boy didn't even know the creature he was up against let alone how to fight such a thing. Jack may be strong, but the guardians couldn't take their chances with this one, they had to keep Jack safe, even if that meant keeping him locked up at the Pole.

Carving each intricate detail into the small knit hat that was now atop the doll's head, North contemplated how the guardians supposed they would find the dragon. None of the Guardians took tabs of any non-human children and therefore, didn't know how to locate one since it wouldn't appear on the globe.

North moved on from the head of the doll to the clothing he had been mulling over in his mind. He gave the ice doll a long puffy coat that reached the lower part of her waist, the skirt of her dress flowing from there. Below her knees, the feet were covered in thick boots with what North planned to have fur on the inside.

He honestly couldn't tell if it was because of the anxiety over Jack's safety or not, but this was the most intricate design he had ever put into one of his toys, including having already chosen the colors and textures of each piece of clothing the girl wore.

North placed the doll back to the corner of the desk, which had become its accustomed spot to sit while the large man worked on it, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his eyes with his large meaty hands before dragging them down his face. Grumbling softly to himself about the boy who lay silent in his ice cold room, North stood up and unlocked the door, making his way to the large kitchen.

The kitchen was always busy as Yetis prepared goodies and feasts for the white bearded man and his guests while the pointy-headed elves crawled as silently as they possibly could with their jingling bells, trying their hardest to sneak past the Yeti forces and steal some of the baked goods that were stacked on large platters.

North made his way through the large room, weaving through the large furry creatures as they ran by with random ingredients, still trying to find that perfect cookie recipe. The weary guardian reached over one of their shoulders and plucked one of the cookies from a silver platter. The Yeti had to stop himself from slapping the man's hand away out of instinct for what was usually one of the hyperactive elves trying to acquire even the smallest bit of the sugar coated sweets.

North didn't even notice as he strode to the next Yeti and grabbed one of the steamy cups of cocoa from his outstretched hands. The furry giant grumbled in protest but moved on through the kitchen.

Finding himself a large red chair, North sat down with a loud thud, he could hear the legs of the chair creaking in protest, but if it could hold the many Yetis who had sat it before, it would surely hold North.

"What am I going to do with the boy?" North groaned.

One of the beasts looked up expectantly, searching over his shoulders for who else the old man may be addressing to before looking back at the grumbling guardian and plopping down in the next chair across from him, waiting for the conversation to continue.

"He thinks he can take care of self, but he is just boy! So young and restless, I doubt he will last entire week. I'm surprised Jack is not gone already." He said, staring into his hands as if they held the answer.

The Yeti across from him nodded solemnly. Jack could certainly be a trouble maker, but he was a good kid who simply couldn't keep his feet on the ground even though he tried. The large creature kept his eyes glued to the old man, his perplexed gaze burning a hole into the Yeti's heart. A furry hand shot out, grabbing a startled Elf, caught off guard while carrying a stolen plate of cookies off to who-knows-where, who now hung by his pointy hat.

North looked up as a large arm thrust itself into view. In the burly hand sat a quivering elf, a tray of cookies. The guardian took the plate, setting it onto his lap and staring at the many morsels as if they would show him what to do next, and theoretically, they did just that.

"Maybe the boy would like cookie." The man contemplated before standing up and gazing towards the door. "I should talk to Jack, he must be so confused. Yes, I will go talk." Nodding at his decision North turned from the smiling Yeti, who waved as the man left their ever so engaged conversation, and a shaky elf who slumped low in his red suit.

"Jack!" The jolly guardian shouted enthusiastically, knocking hard on the winter spirit's door. "I have cookies!" He added, knocking on the door again before reaching for the handle and opening the wooden door ever so slowly.

A cold wind hit North and he shivered upon entering the icy room. Nearly everything was covered in frost, from the ceiling to the floor, covering every wall and even spreading like icy veins out the open window.

North's eyes widened. "Jack?" The plate of cookies hit the floor with a clatter and was almost instantly bombarded with the greedy elves as they rushed in at the sound of the dropped platter, but the guardian of wonder did nothing to stop them. "He is gone."

"Odar!" North shouted at the nearby Yeti, his hand sailing out in front of the beast's face. "Call the guardians, we have trouble."

…

"Honestly, how hard can it be to find one of these?" Jack asked himself as he floated through the countless trees. "It's huge!" He held the book Jamie had given him in front of his face, staring at the drawing of the snarling monster that made the castle it guarded look like a doll house.

"Ugh!" He groaned, letting his head flop back so he faced the sky. "Wind, you brought me here for a reason right? If the dragon is really in Burgess, why can't I find it?"

The wind circled around Jack, clearly agitated as if reminding the boy that it didn't even want to bring him this far. "Fine, Jack smiled, I'll find it myself."

"Snowball fight!"

Jack turned around to see a group of children a little younger than Jamie throwing snowballs at each other. A smirk appeared of his pale face. "Right after a little break." He murmured to himself, darting across the street.

The winter spirit brushed his staff across the cold snow and perfect white balls of snow popped out. "Ammo anyone?" He asked. Since he was still a new guardian, most of the children playing couldn't see him and were able to run straight through the scrawny boy's body, but a few laughed and threw snowballs at the floating boy with the white hair known as Jack Frost.

A few teenagers passed by, staring long fully at the snowball fight as if they were using all of their willpower not to join. Jack laughed and materialized his own snowball into his right hand, smirking wildly as he threw it towards the brunette girl with spindly hair.

She froze in her tracks, her friends laughing uncontrollably at her. The shock was replaced with a tricky smile and Jack snickered as she threw a ball of snow at one of her unsuspecting friends. The boy wiped the snow off of his face before shouting. "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" And grabbing his own ammo, chucking it at one of the other groupies.

Jack floated back, looking contently down at his masterpiece. "Cold cold cold cold…" The boy whirled around to see another teenager, two brown bags weighing her arms down as she tromped through the snow.

She had curly red hair with a grey hat sitting precariously atop her head. Her piercing green eyes squinted as she tried to make haste through the snow. "Hmm…" Jack mumbled inwardly before another snowball appeared in his hand. If he could get five teenagers to join the snowball fight, he was sure to get this spoilsport.

The white ball of ice left his hand, but instead of making contact with the back of the girl's head, it disappeared, water spattering where snow should be sprinkling in her red hair. The girl froze, gasping slightly before turning as if to look for who had thrown the snow at her.

Jack just stared at her quizzically, floating down a bit to get a better look at the strange girl. Her eyes trailed by him before widening. Jack winced, she was looking straight at him. She began to back away. "Wait!" Jack called, but the girl had already taken off down the road before turning abruptly into a large brown house.

Jack didn't follow at first. A teenager saw him. Jack had enough trouble trying to get children to see him that he never expected a teenager to actually notice him. Most people grew out of seeing the magic at a young age, some as young as Jamie.

The winter spirit unknowingly floated to the brown house in which the teenager had disappeared into, stopping at one of the windows.

…

"Eden, you're a hero, thank you for picking those up for me." A brown haired woman with grey eyes shielded by thin rimmed glasses walked into the kitchen, taking the two brown bags from her adoptive daughter.

When the usual chatty teenager didn't respond, Videre turned to see her still standing in the doorway, shivering from the cold, a perplexed scowl glued to her face, her piercing eyes deep in thought. "Eden?"

The girl suddenly snapped out of her daze. "Hi." She said plainly, her eyes lighting up and her red curls bouncing at her shoulders.

Videre studied the girl. "Honey, your hair's all wet."

Eden reached a tentative hand to her soaked locks, a look of realization hitting her. "Uh, yeah, I accidentally caught myself in the middle of a snowball fight and one of the strays hit me. But no one saw!" She finished the last line quickly.

"Oh dear, you need to be more careful." The women said, her stray hairs that had fallen from her bun swaying as the worried lady shook her head.

Eden smiled. "I will Vid." She laughed, rolling her eyes at her overprotective nature.

"I'm in your house!"

The two women turned towards the door as Daniel opened it and waltzed in as if it were his own home, which technically it was seeing how much time he spent at the house as opposed to his internet-dating addicted mother's.

Daniel looked up, his black hair falling in front of his dark brown eyes. "What'd I miss?" He asked, clasping his hands together as if awaiting the best gossip story at a girl's slumber party.

Eden opened her mouth to answer, but Videre got to it first. "Eden got hit by a snowball."

Daniel scrunched up his nose. "Ooh, risky."

"No one saw!" Eden retorted, flinching with guilt at the lie. But what was she supposed to say. 'No one except for the winter spirit himself?'

Videre rolled her eyes and turned to the kitchen to start her new culinary dish.

As soon as she had left the room, Daniel turned to his best friend, one eyebrow raised and a skeptical look plastered on his face. "So, what really happened?"

Eden acted as if she was caught off guard, but knew she had failed miserably. Daniel had always been able to see straight through her since she was adopted into his next-door neighbor's family. He was well over a year older than her, putting him in his senior year of high school, although Eden's grades were superior to his by far.

Daniel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for her to tell the truth. Eden wasn't sure how to answer, her family was always so overprotective of her, knowing she was the last of her kind made them especially cautious of any government associated beings or anything supernatural occurring due to her presence alone.

Winter was not a safe time for a flame holder. She melted ice on contact and, during the snowy seasons was huddled in layers of clothing, still unable to keep warm since her body heat needed to be maintained at a higher temperature than anyone else. Her family was especially worried of Eden's ability to lose her focus and walk right over the frozen lake that sat in the forest behind her house that she loved to sketch her drawings at.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Would it have anything to do with that boy floating in the window over there?" He asked, pointing behind Eden.

She whirled around, her wet hair slapping her face as she turned. The spirit from the park was frozen (no pun intended) in shock. Blue eyes met green. Jack Frost had found her.

_**Cliff-hanger, hanging from a cliff, and that's why he's called cliff-hanger!**_

_**Don't worry, I'll post again tomorrow since I am on a roll with this story.**_

_**Please Review!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_** NEXT CHAPTER YAAAAAAY!**_

"I can't feel my feet! Can't feel my toes!" Bunny burst into the room where North stood, staring seriously into the fireplace they had first received the message about Jack. The Pooka was hopping on one foot, struggling to rub the other back to warmth with his hands.

"Lincoln city! Sandra Flynn, bottom molar." Tooth ordered her fairies as she fluttered in through the window.

Sandy flew in next, his dream sand airplane disintegrating as soon as it had landed. He had an annoyed look on his golden face as he shot the bearded man a quizzical look.

"Oi, North, what are we doin' here again?" Bunny asked, switching feet and rubbing the other.

"Did you get a lead on the dragon?" Tooth asked hopefully.

North's eyes never left the fire place. He shook his head and took a deep breath, afraid of what the others would think when they found out Jack had already fled. It had only been a day and already the winter spirit managed to slip out.

"Jack is gone." He stated.

The others stared at him, their confused eyes burning holes into his heart. "Whoa, waddaya mean he's gone?" Bunny asked. He dropped his foot, although still numb from the bitter cold outside, and hopped over to North's side.

Bunny would never admit it, but he had become quite fond of the white haired spirit. Sure he could be annoying, but he meant well and had grown on the large rabbit. Even when he called Bunny a kangaroo, he couldn't help but smile.

North broke his gaze with the burning fire and made eye contact with the bunny. "Jack slipped out last night. I do not know where he is, but I'm sure wherever boy is, he is looking for dragon." He said.

A dropping feeling filled Bunny's stomach as realization hit him. Jack had disappeared, slipped away, leaving no way to find him. Anger bubbled in his chest. How could North be so careless as to lose the one spirit they were striving all this time to protect? The kid could be getting himself killed for all they knew.

"Ya let him get out?" He asked, his bushy eyebrows were furrowed and a snarl forced itself upon the rabbit's mouth.

North's eyes widened. "I did not know he had left!" He shouted in protest. "I thought…"

"What? That the kid would stick to our little agreement? That the kid wouldn't even try to leave the pole and find that- that thing on his own?" Bunny was furious now. Never had he been so angry at anyone before, even when Jack caused the blizzard in '68 almost ruining Easter that year.

North said nothing, he just let his solemn gaze fall back to the fire pit. Bunny shook his head and backed away.

"Bunny where are you going?" Tooth asked as the rabbit lifted his foot to summon one of his tunnels.

"Someone's gotta find the kid." He stated.

"What kid?"

Everyone whirled around to see the smirking winter spirit leaning against his staff. Everyone was silent, mouths hanging open.

"Jack!" North bellowed. "We thought you left!" The man's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he, followed by the other guardians, propelled himself toward the boy.

Jack winced at the sudden attention. "I did." He stated flatly.

Sandy raised an eyebrow, a golden question mark forming above his head.

"I… uh went for a fly around the pole." He said weakly. "I didn't go far though!" He finished, flinching when he said it. It was then that Bunny noticed something different about the boy, his ever-present smirk had fallen from his face and was replaced with something else.

His eyes shifted so that they never settled on any of the guardians, bombarding him with questions. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed uncomfortably. But what startled Bunny the most was the boy's mouth. His smile wasn't even a smile, it looked as if the boy was struggling to keep the corners of his mouth upright into a grin, but failed halfway, leaving one side pointing up awkwardly while the other sagged into a discontent frown.

Bunny knew this face, but had never seen it on the winter spirit. It didn't look right, as if someone else had replaced their Jack. His face held the look of guilt.

Bunny stood back, crossing his arms while the others practically threw themselves onto the young guardian of fun. He answered a few questions about where he had gone with a distant voice, his head bent down and his eyes raising up ever so slowly to make eye contact with whoever he was speaking to before they darted back to either the floor or his beloved staff.

At a closer look, Jack was more fidgety than ever. His fingers wrapped themselves around the piece of wood like a lifeline and the knuckles were as white as the snow he left behind.

"Ah Jack! You gave us all quite a scare!" North bellowed, his jolly voice rose back to its normal tone. He clapped the boy on the shoulder, jostling him from his daze. The man leaned in closer to Jack. "Especially Bunny." He added.

That caught Bunny's attention. "I wasn't scared mate!" He shot back. "Just though the kid mighta' gotten himself killed is all. Then what would we do?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, his usual smirk beginning to replace the awkward face of guilt, but only made it partway. "Whatever, you know you care about me Cottontail." He teased.

Bunny rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say snowflake." He retorted. But to be truthful, the pooka was glad to see Jack safe and back at the pole.

Jack scoffed playfully and softly brushed away Tooth as she fretted over the boy, fussing about how worried she had been and how much he had scared them all. Sandy smiled, wagging a finger at the wayward spirit.

The other guardians didn't think at all about Jacks uncomfortable body language as he shifted from one foot to the other, unconsciously backing away from the group, but Bunny knew something was clearly wrong.

…

Jack had fled. The gut-wrenching feeling filled him as he took off back to the pole. The girl had seen him, along with her friend. Two teenagers in one day.

The wind swept him off as soon as he had jumped from the window. He hadn't heard a lot from the conversation he had been eavesdropping on, but he did find one thing, the girl's name was Eden. Something tugged in the back of his mind. Why did he know that name?

Jack fumbled in the air as realization struck.

Eden was the name of Jamie's babysitter he had been talking about earlier. The one who knew about Pitch and the other guardians, the one who believed.

Jack did a double take. Should he go back? No, he obviously scared the red-head enough already, he didn't want to frighten her away. But if she knew so much about the guardians, doesn't that make her special in some matter of speaking. What if she knew about how to find the dragon?

This girl could be his link to tracking the beast. The wind had taken him as far as it was willing to and Jack was at least sure that it thrived in Burgess, but somehow, tracking the darned thing down was beginning to become the problem.

Burgess wasn't big. Well, not big enough to hide a creature as large as a princess's castle anyway, so why couldn't he find it.

Another thought struck him. What if it was in disguise? That would explain why he couldn't find the creature, but who, where?

The wind, sensing Jack's troubled thoughts, set the boy softly on the roof of one of the taller houses. The winter spirit tapped his chin in thought. Had he seen anything strange today? He thought.

He saw Jamie first, nothing strange there. What did he do next? He joined the snowball fight, but none of those children had any dragon-like qualities, well based off the information given by Jamie's book that was. What else happened today?

Jack gasped. The girl! She melted the snowball on contact. The image replayed itself in Jack's mind over and over again. The ball of ice hurtling towards the red hair and then, splash, all of it, water. She didn't seem as surprised about it as she was startled. Then she had seen him.

Jack had pieced it together. Well, most of it anyway. If Eden was the dragon, why didn't she attack? Isn't that what she was after anyway? But her frightened features were stuck in his mind. She was scared of _him_. But why?

Jack groaned, suddenly regretting ever setting off to find the dragon in the first place, almost forgetting why he had come at all. He frowned upon remembering. The others didn't think that he couldn't take care of himself.

This made him furious all over again. They had left him to take care of himself for three-hundred years and didn't seem to have a problem with knowing so. But the moment he joins the guardian gang, he is instantly watched like a bug under a microscope. Each step he takes, every time he shifts his staff from one hand to the other, they watch him, studying every movement he makes, fretting over every fall he takes.

He had come to prove to the others that he wasn't afraid and could take care of himself no problem. Unfortunately, that plan wasn't shaping out too well so far. Jack stood up on the roof, pacing for a few seconds before leaping back onto the wind which, unknowing of where to go, just shifted the troubled boy in the air.

As much as the boy wanted to go back to the brown house and confront the thing, Jack knew he needed more information before jumping to conclusions. Jack looked at the sky, already getting dark in Burgess. North had probably noticed his absence by now anyway.

"Wind." Jack said halfheartedly, still distracted by his own thoughts poking at the back of his mind, pushing their way to the focus of Jack's attention. The wind responded, swirling around the teen and tossing his white hair. "Let's go back to the Pole." He stated. The wind, obviously happy to get the boy out of harm's way, swept him high in the air and to the North pole as fast as possible.

Saying that North had noticed Jack's absence was an understatement. When Jack walked into the room where he was sure the bearded man would be lounging, he noticed three other people standing awkwardly around the fireplace.

"Someone's gotta find the kid." Bunny said to the side, lifting a foot to summon one of his tunnels.

Although he knew they were talking about him, Jack had to find a way to enter the conversation without being attacked by the other guardians. "What kid?" He asked, waltzing in and leaning against his staff as if it were perfectly normal as and situation.

Everyone whirled around to look at him. He fidgeted a bit as the uncomfortable silence hung over them.

"Jack!" North practically shouted. His arms opened wide as he tried to gather the boy up in an embrace.

Jack flinched back, but none of the others seemed to notice.

The guardians all rushed forward, causing the boy to wince again out of instinct, he didn't like closed spaces, and right now, the big four were huddled a bit too close for his taste. "We thought you left!" North finished.

Jack answered without thinking. "I did." Drat! He regretted it as soon as it left his mouth. Why couldn't he have just made up something about hanging out in the workshop or something? Sandy looked at him quizzically. "I… uh went for a fly around the pole." Well, it wasn't a complete lie, but a pang of guilt launched itself in his throat anyway, trying to force the truth up out of his lungs. "I didn't go far though!" He added quickly, replacing the words trying to force themselves out with yet another lie. He could've at least told them that he went to see Jamie, that might have taken away some of the pain.

Jack flinched again as the guilt stabbed at him again, he had never lied to anyone before, no one he could remember at least, he had no one to lie to. No one had ever talked to him, therefore giving him no reason to make up untrue answers that made his head dizzy and his stomach wrench with nausea.

No one seemed to take notice though, everyone just kept bombarding him with questions about whether he was okay and what he was thinking leaving Santoff Clausen in the first place. Everyone besides Bunny that is.

Jack looked up for less than an instant to meet eyes with the pooka, and that gave him just enough time to realize that Bunny was eyeing him skeptically. He must've been acting suspicious in order to gain the guardian of hope's attention so easily.

North mumbled something about being worried about him that Jack could barely make out over the ringing in his ears. A large hand landed hard on his shoulder. Jack jumped and looked over to see North, a large smile spreading across his lips. "Especially Bunny." He whispered.

Jack smirked, the feeling of guilt subsiding over the pride he suddenly held, knowing that the Easter kangaroo had been the most worried of all the guardians.

Bunny looked up. "I wasn't scared mate!" He retorted. "Just though the kid mighta' gotten himself killed is all. Then what would we do?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Whatever, you know you care about me Cottontail."

Bunny rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say snowflake."

Jack scoffed, glad that he was beginning to feel more normal by the second. Tooth was still hovering a bit too close for his taste though and he tried to nudge her out of his personal bubble which had burst due to the capacity it held only moments before.

Sandy waved a finger at him, his own silent way of telling the boy not to run off again. Jack just smiled. He was glad that no one was suspecting anything right now about the dragon, and that was just how the guardian of fun wanted it. The more information he could acquire about the dragon before his respected week was up without the others knowing, the better chance Jack had in defeating it before she attacked… that was _if_ she attacked.

_**Longest chapter so far WOOHOO!**_

_**In case you hadn't noticed, Bunnymund is my favorite character and I think him and Jack's relationship is the best, so I had a lot of this in this chapter.**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW I didn't get that many yesterday and those are what push me to writing this story.**_

_**Bust thank you to those who did! You made my day!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Okay, so I don't really know where I was going with the second part of this chapter as much as I just kinda wanted to throw in some random humor into the story, so this update isn't quite as epic as the others, but I hope you guys still like it!**_

Jack had wondered off after the others had been assured that the boy wasn't in any immediate danger. Well, no danger that they knew of at least.

Jack wondered aimlessly through the halls, dragging his light wooden staff behind him and leaving a trail of frosty floral designs as he went. It had been two days since he had tried to find the dragon, two days since Eden ruined his entire mindset.

His head hurt and the teen was still racking his brain, trying to figure out how on Earth any of this could have happened. For the past two days, Jack had tried finding everything he could about the strange girl, if that was even what she was.

The staff began tapping methodically against the floor as the perplexed winter spirit tried to think about what his next move should be. The navy blue hood of his jacket was pulled up so that it covered his ears and allowed the boy to think.

The other guardians, out of fear that the frost spirit wouldn't stay in the Pole due to his inability to stay in one place for too long, gave Jack the freedom to use one of North's snow globes to travel to and from the other spirit's dwellings. If the young guardian of fun traveled anywhere else by use of snow globe, North would be able to tell, seeing as he could just look at the clear sphere of glass and see all of the places one's been.

Jack had visited the tooth palace the first day of receiving the freedom, hoping to find Eden's memories and hopefully some clues, but had no such luck. Apparently, the guardians didn't indirectly take into consideration any child that wasn't human, and according to the fact that Eden was not full human, if part human at all, her memories were not among the vast columns of golden cylinders.

The frost pulsed, leaving mini explosions of ice wherever it hit the marble floors. The confusion was practically pulsating off of Jack in blasts of cold wind and the elves and Yetis knew to keep out of the way of the frustrated spirit, though none of the other guardians seemed to notice due to their constant attention devoted to their work.

Jack stopped walking as he approached North's office, which he had unconsciously been heading towards the entire walk. The staff stopped bouncing as soon as its owner's wrist halted its constant thumping. Jack pulled his left hand from his jacket pocket and pulled down the hood, letting the white hair practically bounce back to life.

Ever so slowly, the boy raised a tentative hand to the door.

"Jack!" The boy jumped back and turned to see North.

"Oh North, I was just looking for you." He said, still trying to calm down his breathing and heart-rate.

"Funny." North bellowed. "I was looking for you as well." He chuckled, gesturing at the trail of ice he had followed.

Jack almost face palmed as a look of embarrassment crossed his face. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"No, no, is not your fault." North said, raising his hands to stop the boy from continuing with his apologies. "I just wanted to make sure you did not leave again." He finished, raising an eyebrow playfully at Jack.

"Oh." Was all the winter spirit could muster.

"So, what did you want to talk about with me?"

Jack's head snapped up, suddenly remembering the entire reason he had approached the large door to North's office in the first place. "Oh, right um… well, I just kinda wanted to know how the search is going is all." Jack stuttered, rubbing his arm unsurely.

North's face dropped. "Not well." He answered flatly. "We have no lead on where thing could be, but do not worry Jack, we will not let creature hurt you."

Jack sighed, almost relieved, he had wanted to find out as much as he could about the dragon before the others got involved, he still wanted to prove himself a guardian. "So, theoretically speaking, would a creature as large as this one should be, would it possibly… be able to take the shape of another animal… say a human? Theoretically of course!" His fidgeting had returned and his toes flexed awkwardly, begging for Jack to let his feet to float off the ground and be whisked away by the wind and away from the guilty taste that was seeping its way back into his mouth.

North furrowed his bushy white eyebrows, thinking. I do not know. Guardians have never dealt with dragon before. They were supposed to be extinct since dark ages."

Jack frowned at this. "But how…" He trailed off, falling back into the depths of his own mind.

"We do not know." North answered the unfinished question. "But we will find out Jack, it will not hurt you." The large man placed a large hand on Jack's shoulder, startling the boy.

"I'm not helpless you know." The winter spirit said, annoyance biting in his voice. His hand rose up and he brushed the hand off of his blue jacket before turning and darting back down through the halls.

North sighed in anguish, that boy could be so difficult sometimes. He didn't want to admit it, but Jack was right about how the other guardians saw him. He was the youngest spirit out of the five and probably ever existing seeing as though most spirits had died as older and wiser people.

But Jack was only a child in their eyes, a child they had neglected to take care of for three-hundred years that they were all now trying to make up for with their fussing and worrying. Unfortunately, Jack didn't want that kind of attention, not yet at least. He thought they were treating him like this only because he was now one of them, which in some cases was actually right.

If Jack hadn't been chosen by the Man in the moon, he would still be out wandering the world, ignored by the other guardians just as he's always been.

North's hands slid down his face in defeat before opening the door leading to his large office. The man's solemn expression was suddenly overtaken by a smile of pride as he settled back into his large chair, picking up the ice doll. Luckily, he had made her out of the non-melting ice, a prototype of his own blend that was working perfectly so far.

He had finally begun the design and color of the doll on a piece of parchment that lay crumpled and covered with correction marks as the man tried to change the design as he continued to progress with her features.

Her lips were a dark pink, contrasting perfectly with her pale complexion. Her curly hair was supposed to be a dark brown in his first design, was now a rich red/orange color that warmed North's heart by simply looking at it.

The only problem still held in the doll's beautiful face were the eyes. He had tried a dark blue and frowned at the results. No, not blue, blue just didn't feel right… in his belly. Brown? Hazel?

North sat back in his chair, sighing loudly, the rush of air pushing up a tuft of his thick mustache. The man's fingers drummed against the table as he looked around the room hoping for inspiration when the sudden force of the idea hit him.

A large smile swept across North's lips and he laughed in success as he pulled away from the paper where he had colored the doll's eyes a dazzling green.

…

Jack, unknowing of where to go, tossed the snow globe that had been sitting atop his respectful side table. As much as he wanted to hop onto the back of the wind and allow revisit the dragon-girl, as he had decided to call her for now, he knew the guardians would find out again, maybe pulling together a search party this time in order to find him.

No, he had to wait for the week to be over, he couldn't get caught.

The ball of glass and water rolled through his hands before Jack decided where he wanted to go. "Man, I must be more bored than I thought." He mumbled to himself before rolling the globe to his right hand and lifting it up to whisper "To the warren."

The snow globe was tossed to the other side of the room and a portal opened up almost instantly. Jack stood up and grabbed his staff before walking through the swirling colorful portal.

The snow spirit fumbled to catch himself as the spinning and sudden bright colors filled his eyes. The portal closed behind him and, once the dizziness had stopped and the blotches that had been blurring his vision disappeared, he bent down to collect the discarded glass ball.

Looking up, Jack noticed that the warren was unusually warm for his taste and began to question why he had even decided to come _here_, of all places, in the first place.

"Oi mate! What are you doin' here?" Jack whirled around to see Bunny standing up tall on the small mound behind him, small egglets running aimlessly around hit large feet.

Jack smirked. "Just came to visit my favorite guardian is all." He said sarcastically. Bunny raised an eyebrow and Jack's go-lucky face fell into that of a disappointed and unamused scowl. "I was bored."

Bunny cracked a smile and nodded. "Not that I believe." He said, turning to make his way back to painting the egglets.

Jack, unknowing of what to do next besides explore the tunnels and possibly get lost… again (a fairly embarrassing story which hadn't helped Jack in his goal to stop being looked at as helpless) he floated up into the uncomfortably warm breeze and followed the Pooka.

On the other side of the small hill were thousands upon thousands of the small egglets, running around like crazy while the large rabbit tried to herd them into the painting area where the flowers dipped their heads and spouted the colorful paints onto the eggs.

"Why are you preparing so early?" Jack found himself asking.

Bunny didn't even look up from his work as he painted an intricate design of a flower on one of the squirming egglets. "I don't want another mess like last year with Pitch. This way, if anythin' happens to these little guys," He said, gesturing at the egg in his paw, "I've got an extra batch ta send."

Jack nodded, it made sense since the last Easter had been ruined when Pitches nightmares had trampled each and every egg, leaving nothing for the children to find, and therefore nothing to believe in either.

"So." He started awkwardly, hesitating to move on with the conversation, he would probably just say the same thing North had, leaving the spirit just as perplexed, if not more, than when he had first asked.

Bunny looked up from his work to eye the boy as he fidgeted and silently debated whether to tell him something. The pooka noted how shifty Jack still was, even after the whole mess the other day had blown over. What was he so nervous about?

"How's your luck with finding the dragon-gir- going?" He blurted out suddenly, as if a bubble in his chest had just popped, allowing all of the words to burst out at once, although he had stumbled a bit after the dragon part, catching himself in the process of saying something else. "I already asked North, but I was hoping you might have had better luck since you're not sticking around to make preparations for Christmas in four days and you've got tunnels and such."

Bunny smiled inwardly. So that's what's got the kid bugged, he's still worried about the whole dragon situation. To be quite honest, Bunny hadn't thought of the idea of making the eggs early this year until the problem had come up, he didn't know what to do, where to start, so he began making eggs, it was his best distraction from the whole predicament. "No need ta worry mate. As long as ya stay with North, it won't get ya." He tried to reassure him.

Jack's head snapped up a look of discontent obvious as it flared in his eyes. "I'm not worried! I can take care of myself just fine on my own."

The pooka was caught off guard. "I know mate, no need ta shout. I just thought ya sounded a bit worried is all, I mean, why else would ya come here?" He smiled slyly.

Jack's brow furrowed. "I told you, I was bored."

"Well, I would offer you a chance ta get yer mind off of the predicament by exploring the tunnels over there… but we both know where that would lead."

A glint of anger and embarrassment sparked in the spirit's eyes. "Those tunnels are huge!" He protested.

"And you were ten feet from the entrance ya gumby!" Bunny laughed only to be stopped abruptly when he saw Jack's staff crackling with blue at the hook. The pooka leapt back just in time to escape the ice blast as it left the wooden staff and darted at him.

Bunny turned around to see Jack laughing to himself, his usual smirk back in its rightful place on Jack's happy face. "So ya think your funny do ya Frostbite?" He asked.

Jack stopped his laughing to crack a smile at the rabbit. "Yes, yes I do Mr. Kangaroo." He said, only to burst out in another fit of laughter.

The laughing was cut off abruptly as one of the egg bombs Bunny kept strapped to his chest hurled at him and exploded in a cloud of color. Jack began coughing and managed to step out of the smoke cloud just in time to see Bunny biting his lip and snickering.

The spirit looked down at himself to see he was colored head to toe in Easter dye. He lifted a purple eyebrow at the rabbit. "You are so dead." He said, trying his best not to crack a smile, but lost it when Bunny's face dropped. The pooka turned instantly and bounded down the hill, Jack close behind, wielding his staff.

_**Yaaaaay!**_

_**Hope you all liked it, Hopefully, I will get the next update up soon, but first I have to figure out where in the world I'm going with the next chapter since the last one kinda threw me off of my original plot.**_

_**Please Review! It makes me so happy to know you guys take the time to comment on my story! I love all of you!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Okay, this chapter took me FOREVER!**_

_**But my story is finally back on topic. YAAAAY!**_

To say that Eden was nervous would have been a definite understatement. Ever since she had seen the winter immortal leave her house just three days ago, she had been on edge beyond anyone's control. Daniel had already been hit twice just that morning due to simply coming up on the wrong side of the girl.

It was three days until Christmas and the house was supposed to be hosting a party that night for the neighbors and friends and Eden and Daniel had both been put in charge of decorating. Actually only Daniel had been put in charge of decorating, but according to Eden, he had been putting the streamers up incorrectly, so now it was mainly Eden hoisting up the green and red paper thin ribbons and Daniel trying (and failing) to blow up balloons.

The boy grabbed a bright green piece of latex and took a deep breath before putting the end into his mouth and blowing. Phhtttttttt. Phhtttttttt. Breath. Phhhhhhttttttttttttttttt!

"Daniel!" Eden turned abruptly from her perch upon the step ladder which allowed her to reach the ceiling above the living room couch.

Daniel turned, his eyes dizzily crossed and his face turning a light shade of blue. "Wah?" He asked lazily as the oxygen slowly returned to his blood. Eden smiled and shook her head, turning back to the wall she had been leaning against. She pulled the red streamer roll from its spot on the ladder and pulled, causing the roll to slip from her hands.

"Oops."

The roll tumbled before falling safely inside a brown paper bag which the unsuspecting, and slightly surprised, Videre was holding. She looked up expectantly and held up the ribbon. "Good job Eden, the place looks wonderful." She commented as her daughter took the roll and proceeded with her decorating.

"Hey!" Daniel protested from the brown leather couch.

Videre raised a slightly grey eyebrow and placed the rest of the snack she had recently picked up from the store on the floor. "Daniel do you really expect me to believe that you took part in this?" She said, gesturing to the intricate green and red decoration that covered the living room walls and ceiling.

Daniel frowned. "No, but I think I'm about to get through to this balloon though." He said, holding up his limp and now slightly wet balloon.

Videre rolled her eyes. "Of course, how could I forget your wonderful abilities with breaking a balloon's self-esteem?"

Daniel smiled at this before turning back to the latex in his hand with a determined look. "Now balloon, you die." …Phhhhhhttttt.

"Ugh!" Eden groaned.

…

Unfortunately, Eden's normally calm…ish self hadn't been restored by the time the party had started, jumping every time the doorbell rang. She ended up having to place her glass down by the time she had spilled sparkling cider on her purple dress for the third time.

"Still think that immortal dude's coming for you?" Daniel asked, waltzing into the room in his black suit complete with a twisted sideways and slightly undone red bowtie which somehow he had managed to pull off for the majority of the night without Eden's hands diving for the thing to redo it.

She raised an eyebrow after studying his outfit.

"What? I think it looks fine." He stated, crossing his arms and staring down at his best friend. "Fine, but make it quick, I don't want anyone to know that I can't even dress myself properly." He whispered harshly, leaning in so that the red-head could retie it.

Eden smiled, pushing away a lock of his black hair from his face and stood back. "How do I look?" He asked, holding out his arms and giving her a serious expression.

"Like someone who can dress himself properly." She chuckled.

Daniel smiled. "You never answered my question about Frosty." He said quietly, frowning slightly and eyeing his friend with worry.

"Daniel, I'm fine. Just a little… confused is all." Daniel raised a black eyebrow. "It's been three days and I don't know what's happening. I mean, I was sure that when he flew off that maybe he was going off to tell somebody, bring reinforcements or something, but I haven't seen anything weird lately." She finished in a hushed whisper.

"I'm sure your just overreacting, dude probably doesn't even know what-er, _who_ you are anyway." He said, catching his mistake quickly as Eden furrowed her brows together, her green eyes barely peeking out from under them.

Upon looking at the others at the party, there weren't many teenagers their age. Most of the people who had come were from work with Videre who was entertaining in the kitchen at the moment, and their kids who were all pretty young.

Eden had insisted on a semi-formal party which both Videre and Daniel both blamed on the fact that she wanted Christmas, like every other holiday, to be perfect ignoring the fact that she hadn't celebrated the holiday before moving in with the older woman. Upon realizing that most people celebrated the holidays with fancy and festive gatherings, she had also been the one to organize the entire thing, along with the annual egg-hunt that was hosted in the park every year.

Daniel smiled and looked at the girl who was now staring off into the crowd as if waiting for someone in particular. Her red curls were pinned back in a loose low ponytail with decorated rhinestone bobby-pins and her eyelashes were drawn out long with both her natural length and the mascara she saved for special occasions since she usually ended up getting it on her eyebrows rather than her actual eye_lashes_. The purple dress she wore fell to the floor with a sash tied around the waist and her black wind around sandals matched it perfectly.

"Eden!" The two teenagers turned around to face the voice.

"Jamie, hi!" She started before her eyes widened in shock.

"This is Jack Frost." Jamie introduced. The boy standing next to him wore the exact same expression.

…

"Please North?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"North."

"Jack."

Jack huffed, he had been trying to let the old guardians to allow him one night out of the Pole to spend some time with Jamie. He the stress of the dragon-girl and the claustrophobia (although the Pole was a pretty large place, the kid could only take so many Yetis and elves running the halls at once) was getting to his head and he wanted to take a break away from the others.

"I promised Jamie I would visit him this break." He tried to reason.

"I will make deal with you." North said turning to the winter spirit. "You can come with me on Christmas run and I will leave you with little boy until rounds are done. Good?" He finished.

Jack pouted. "How about… both?" He asked, pulling the same tactic a young child might use.

North sighed. "Jack, I know you are getting rambunctious, and want time outside pole, but you made deal."

Jack paused, lifting his lip into a confused grimace. "Ram-whatnow?"

North practically face-palmed at the boy's child-like behavior. "You are tired of being cooped up and not being allowed your freedom." Jack nodded at this. "But you made promise that you would stay until the end of week before leaving. What if dragon catches you tonight?"

Jack opened his mouth as if to say something, but snapped it shut. "What if I bring a snow globe with me?"

North turned around. "What?"

"If I have the snow globe and I encounter the dragon, I can make a quick escape and still make it back here in time right?"

North, finally fed up with the constant pestering, let his head drop. "Fine, you get tonight and Christmas Eve with Bennet boy, but anything happens and you are here for another week." He settled, pointing a finger at the smiling frost spirit.

Jack nodded enthusiastically, gripping his staff and rising off the floor with excitement at finally being allowed out of his prison. "Thanks North! I'll be back soon!" He said, racing off and grabbing the snow globe held up by one of the elves as it looked deep into its snowy contents, squeaking angrily when it was taken away from him.

Jack considered using the globe to get there in the first place, but he decided that he and the wind had been separated for far too long, and leapt on its back instead, racing through the air, whooping loudly as it carried him higher into the clouds above.

"Were going to Jamie's!" Jack shouted. The wind curled around his small figure and tilted him a bit so that they were heading to Burgess.

Sure he had only been trapped for three days now… technically only two due to his minor- okay, major slip-up the first day, but for a boy who had lived the past three-hundred years in the open arms of the cold wind and no one watching over his shoulder at every move he made, he couldn't wipe the large, toothy grin that lined his lips as he soared through the sky.

Finally, the wind slowed down, allowing Jack to fall below the clouds and actually see where it was he was headed. The red house came into view soon enough, and the window was already partially open.

"Hey Jame, Soph." He called upon opening the window and spotting his two favorite believers.

"Jack!" Jamie smiled, breaking into a large smile while Sophie raced at the spirit, enveloping him into a small toddler-sized hug.

"Frosty Frosty!" She cried.

"Hey, what's the get-up about?" He asked, eying Jamie as he struggled to button up his shirt and clip the black tie around his neck. Sophie was also dressed up, a pink dress reaching her knees as she ran through the house with her unmanageable blonde hair was tied up in a loose ponytail looking as if it would fall out any second.

"Huh? Oh, we're going to a Christmas party tonight." He answered, watching as Jack's face fell. "Do you want to come? I don't think anyone would mind if you crashed the party anyway." He smiled, watching as Jack's smirk returned to his pale face, bringing his blue eyes back to life.

"Okay." He answered.

"Yaaaaay! Party party party!" Sophie cried loudly, bouncing up and down until her hair finally gave in and fell into her face.

…

The Bennet family had piled into the car, with the exception of Jamie's father who was coming back the day after Christmas, and the addition of Jack Frost. Jack and Jamie had put their (lack of) hair mangling skills together to tie Sophie's hair back up, creating a knot that they had passed off as a bun and random strands of yellow hair falling into the toddler's face, but at least it held.

Jamie and Sophie sat behind their mother while Jack struggled to hold his balance between the seats as the van jostled. "So what do you do at these party things anyway?" Jack asked between bumps in the road.

Jamie turned to him. "You've never been to a Christmas party?" He asked.

Jack shrugged. "Three-hundred years old, remember?" He answered, knocking the ten year-old playfully on the head.

Jamie smiled. "Well, to be honest, not much. Usually the parents talk and such while the kids all play together, sometimes one of the parents dresses up as Santa and brings gifts for the kids to keep them busy, but other than that."

"Here we are." Mrs. Bennet announced, pulling into the driveway of a brown house.

Jack stared at it confused. The house looked familiar for some reason but he for some reason couldn't remember why.

"Alright kiddo." Mrs. Bennet grunted, opening the door on Sophie's side and unbuckling the bouncing child. "Here we go! Jamie, I need you to watch your sister for me while we're here okay? I don't want her wandering off."

Jamie nodded. "Come on Soph." He said, grabbing his little sister's hand and pulling her, along with Jack, into the large house. The door was already slightly ajar, most likely due to the fact that there were so many people here and the owners didn't need the constant ringing of the doorbell or knocking on the wood to call them away from their entertaining every five seconds.

The house was packed, most of the people there were adults who stood around holding beverages in small glass cups. Children ran around the house, ruining their nice clothes in the process. Over to the side was a table covered in green table cloth, which matched the streamers and slightly deflated and scrunched up balloons that hung limply from small pieces of tape, with a bowl of what Jack could only guess was sparkling cider seeing as the kids along with the adults were all taking their share of the substance.

Jack looked down to see Jamie scouring the room for something. "What are you looking for?" He finally asked.

"Not what, who." Jamie corrected. "There's someone here I've been dying to introduce you to." Suddenly his eyes lit up. He tugged on Jacks arm. The spirit let himself float and be dragged over to the refreshment stand. "Eden!"

Jack froze.

The dragon-girl turned around, her red curls, pinned back loosely by sparkly pins whipped around in excitement. "Jamie, hi!" She greeted before her eyes widened larger than Jack had thought possible.

"This is Jack Frost." Jamie stated, gesturing to the boy floating next to him.

Suddenly, Jack remembered why he had found this house familiar.

_**YAAAAAAY!**_

_**I hope you all liked it, I'm finally getting back to my original design of the story.**_

_**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEAAAAAASE (with your favorite ice cream toppings on top) review!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Haha, my sister was reading my last chapter and busted out laughing for some reason. When I asked her why, she pointed to where I said Jack was claustrophobic in the North Pole, she then proceeded quoting SpongeBob, saying "It means he's scared of Santa clause. 'Ho Ho HO!' STOP IT PATRICK YOUR SCARING HIM!"…. Let's just say we had some fun with that last chapter.**_

_**Anywhosers, here's the next chapter.**_

"Well this is awkward." A boy in a black suit and red tie said, breaking the long silence between Jack and Eden, both frozen in their own stares. Jack had recognized him from the day he had first seen the dragon-girl.

"Jack, this is Eden, my babysitter, Eden, this is my best friend Jack." Jamie introduced, completely oblivious to the tension between his two friends. Jack's grip on the staff in his right hand was tighter than ever now as his body coursed with anxiety. It slowly angled into a defensive pose in front of his face, as if warning her not to try anything.

He tried pulling his beloved friend and his sister back towards him, but they had already disappeared from his side, Jamie talking about something Jack could barely hear over the throbbing of his heart in his ears, but sounded like the boy was talking about the winter spirit, also mentioning something about guardians and Pitch within the mumbling mush that filled the rest of the conversation.

Eden's eyes never left his, the green bore into his own cool blue eyes, which he had tried to make look fairly menacing despite the fact that he was truly fearing for all of the Bennet's and his own life at the moment.

The silence began again, hanging sadly in the air as if waiting for someone to claim it for the sake of conversation, apparently proving too much for the boy standing next to Eden to handle. "Hey Jamie, why don't you and Sophie come with me to the kitchen?" He said, reaching for Sophie's hand. The toddler grabbed it playfully, hugging it in her small hands.

"Daniel!" The dragon-girl hissed between her teeth, whirling around to grab her friend by his spare hand, grasping it desperately, her eyes wide with both annoyance and fear. "Don't leave me here!"

"Is that a clip on tie? Now that's what I'm talking about." He continued, ignoring his friend entirely as he walked with the two Bennet children to the kitchen which was filled to the brim with party foods.

Eden let out an almost inaudible grunt which Jack could only place as annoyance. Her hands flew up to her head, pushing back the red curls in a stressful manner, only for them to bounce back perfectly in their respectable places.

"Sorry, about him." She apologized, as if trying (and failing) to start a conversation. "He's not really one for social activity… or helping people out of potentially deadly situations!" She finished the last part loudly, poking her head into the kitchen and waiting for her friend to reply.

"Your welcome!" A shout came back.

"Oh boy." She groaned. "Listen, I know what you're here for, but-"

"I'm not going down without a fight dragon." Jack cut in, leaning into his staff so that it was pointed straight at the girl.

Eden stepped back. "I don't want to-"

"What do you want with me?" He interrupted, his brow lowering into a menacing glare, his staff now only a few feet from the girl.

"M-me?" Her expression changed suddenly from frightened to perplexed in an instant. "But _you're _the one who wants something with _me_? Don't you?"

As much as Jack wanted to pass the question off as a simple distraction, the way her mouth pressed into the determined line and her brows furrowed, shading her bright green eyes, he began to realize just how confused the girl actually was about the situation at hand.

"Wait, so you don't want to kill me?" He asked, lowering his staff the slightest bit.

Eden shook her head. "Eden, you okay there?" Mrs. Bennet asked, looking over to see the red-head shaking her head confusedly and talking in a hushed tone to no one in particular, or no one she could see anyway.

The dragon-girl looked up, suddenly remembering that they were still standing in the heart of a crowded Christmas party. "Yes, just a- uh headache." She said. It wasn't exactly a lie, the perplexing situation was growing more confusing by the second.

She turned back to the on-edge winter spirit. "Come with me." She said, grabbing Jack's staff suddenly as if it was the most normal thing to do. The shocked frost child just let her pull him up the large staircase and into an empty room which looked somewhat like someone's bedroom.

The purple blankets on the large bed were pulled up tight around the corners, but it seemed to be the only organized thing in the entire room. Papers were strewn throughout the entire space, some covered the walls while others lay scattered across the floor. The thing that caught Jack's attention was what was on the papers. On each piece of white parchment, was a graphite grey (and partially smeared on many) drawing.

The sketches were amazing, more realistic a detailed than even a camera would be able to capture. Some were f inanimate objects such as the dresser in one corner of the room, capturing every detail from the two slightly drawers with random garments peeking out above the overflowing container, while others were of people, one that had captured Jack's attention first was a little boy picking up an Easter egg, the detail in his quizzical face and the wonder in his eyes were almost real, as if the boy would suddenly move to place the egg in his barely filled wicker basket.

"Did you draw all of these?" He asked, his staff had dropped to his side.

"Oh, yeah, sorry my room's kind of a mess right now, I was trying to find one of my journals this morning and I guess I forgot to clean up." She shrugged, frantically trying to pick up the scattered mess, carefully placing each paper on her bed. "Although, I wasn't really expecting you to be here _tonight_." She finished, huffing as she tried to crouch down to grab more papers, only to be caught in the skirts of her dress that wrapped around her knees.

Jack raised an eyebrow, his weariness of the girl had suddenly reappearing. "What do you mean 'tonight?'?"

"When I saw you take off the other day, I was sure you were going to tell someone, bring reinforcements or something to collect me, but you never did, and then tonight, all of a sudden you appear with Jamie as if nothing had ever happened." She explained, gathering the last of her drawings and dropping them on the purple sheets.

"Collect you? Wait, you thought I was going to attack you?" Eden nodded expectantly. "But the moon specifically said that you were after _me_."

"The moon?" The green irises in her eyes grew with wonder. "You can talk to the moon?"

"Sort of, he mainly talks to the other guardians, not specifically to me. But in the message, the dragon was attacking me, not the other way around. Are there any other dragons?"

The smile that had begun to creep across Eden's lips faltered before falling completely. "One, if she's after you, you're in more danger than you thought." She said, shaking her head worriedly.

"Why?" Jack asked, suddenly curious about what the girl knew.

Eden turned to the mess upon her bed and began rummaging through the pile of papers, letting some of them carelessly slip and fall to the ground. Finally, she turned around, setting one of the papers in Jack's hand. "Because she wants to kill me too."

On the page, was drawn an intricate figure of a large dragon, just like the one from the message in the fireplace back at North's. But this image gave the creature a more menacing and terrifying gaze. The black wings were open wide as if to strike and the lips were curled into a wide sneer, showing off the large set of sharp teeth. The razor sharp claws almost seemed to reach out to dig into Jack's thumb that rested upon one of its feet, he moved it out of the way, the picture was just too realistic to ignore the urge.

Finally getting a clearer picture at what he was supposedly dealing with, his arm lurched out to hand the paper back to Eden, who took it into her hands delicately and tossed it back onto the bed.

"Why did you think I was coming to 'collect' you?" Jack asked, throwing out the question, trying to ignore the image of the dragon that stuck inside his head like a tattoo imprinted on his memories.

"Well I've had a couple dreams with at least one of you guardians trying to attack me and take me with you. I don't know where or what for though, I just know that you don't like what I am and you try to take me. I always wake up before it can finish." She said flatly.

"Sounds more like nightmares to me. Do you know who the Boogeyman is?" He asked.

Eden nodded. "Yeah, he appears in some of them, not for long though, he's pretty much just warning me that someone's coming to 'collect' me and then you guys come crashing in."

"I should talk to Sandy about that, he's supposed to sense nightmares like that." He explained.

Eden shook her head, her red curls bounding around as she did. "I don't get real dreams, I don't register with the guardians, they tend to ignore me for the most part, which is why I was startled when these dreams started."

Jack's stomach dropped to his feet. She didn't get real dreams? The fact that a ma-eating dragon trying to hunt him down registered as a normal thing for the guardians to ignore with their duties of only protecting human children, but Eden wasn't a man-eating dragon seeking to kill him, she was a girl plagued with nightmares and left with nothing on Christmas from North, or extra eggs lain in her back yard, or even a spot for her memory box in the tooth palace. And here he thought he was lonely.

Although Jack had been ignored physically by the others for his first three-hundred years, at least he had gotten happy dreams from Sandy, at least he was on the list at North's (even if it was the naughty list), and he even had his own memory box in Tooth's loving hands. He had never been truly forgotten, not completely invisible. But Eden had, she wasn't even registered into the guardians' minds as a responsibility like every other child in the world had been, that is until she became a potential threat.

"I'm sorry." He said.

Eden's face curled into a confused expression. "For what? It was an accident, you didn't know that-"

"I'm sorry you were ignored for so long." He corrected. "It won't happen again."

And it was then that he made a silent vow to protect the child inside his forgotten friend.

_**0_o okay, I know this chapter is a little short and a little fast, but I had to get it in there because the fact that I set the story up differently opposed to the original is still a little iffy with the timelines. But I hope you enjoyed it!**_

_**Please Review!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**HORAY! I really like this chapter and I hope you do too!**_

"Oh my! Look, it's her first baby tooth! Look how she brushed, look how she flossed!" Tooth was fluttering frantically around her palace, flitting to each of the teeth that came in to inspect how well the child had taken care of his or her teeth.

Jack floated silently behind her, dodging the fast hummingbird people that whizzed by on their way to the next house, a silver coin in tow. A couple tiny fairies stopped to wave and smile at the winter spirit, but most merely rushed off to their next destination giving squeaks of protest when some of them hit Jack before veering quickly out of the way to collect the precious teeth.

"Hey Tooth." Jack greeted, trying to float above the main current of the swarm of fairies. Tooth turned quickly, a large grin prickling at her cheekbones.

"Oh Jack, you've come to visit! Look!" She shouted enthusiastically, shoving one of the shiny molars covered in pink and slime. "Isn't it beautiful? It's Helen's first molar and she lost it today during her soccer game, just popped right out!" Jack smiled as he watched the jittery guardian excitedly pint out every detail of the 'beautiful' tooth that rolled in her hands. "Baby Tooth!" She called behind her.

One of the fairies stopped to look at the memory guardian. Her eyes lit up as soon as her eyes floated to Jack and she squealed with excitement, ignoring Tooth as she flitted by and darted onto the boy's open hand.

"Hey Baby Tooth." Jack said, he had made a soft spot for the small sprite, although most all of the fairies looked the same to the winter sprit, he could always somehow tell Baby from all others with one look.

"Baby." Tooth tried calling again. This time, the small pixie turned to focus her attention on the mother fairy, awaiting orders. "Can you go put this away for me?" Tooth asked, her loving tone making anyone do whatever she wanted the way she seemed so innocent, yet so demanding at the same time.

Baby Tooth nodded enthusiastically and grabbed the molar from her hand, giving Jack one last look before waving and veering off to the girl's memory casket.

"So Jack, what brings you here today? Does North know you're here?" She asked her face dropping into one a mother might portray during the last question.

Jack shook his head. "North thinks I'm with Jamie right now."

Tooth raised an eyebrow. "Why would he think that? I thought you made a promise to stay within guardian boundaries." She said, wagging her finger at the wayward spirit. "I should tell him you're here."

"Wow, Tooth it's okay. I asked if I could take the day to visit him and Sophie, I've been a little stir crazy if you know what I mean." He said shrugging. One thing Jack loved about Tooth, was that once you get on her good side once, there was no getting off it. With Tooth, Jack always felt truly cared for.

Somehow, her affections never seemed pushed to meet what the others thought would meet Jack's standards. The others, mainly North and Bunny, always seemed overbearing in their care for the boy. They tried too hard, fretting over the boy wasn't natural for them, so when it came to wanting to help him, they out did themselves, making Jack feel overwhelmed.

But Tooth's motherly instincts were natural, her worry and fretting were nothing more than irritating at times, still managing to make Jack jump at the sudden attention, but not quite as bad as the others.

"And he let you?" Tooth almost flinched at the surprise in her tone. "Not that I wouldn't, but North isn't usually one to make deals like that so easily." She apologized quickly.

"I think I was kinda bugging him so much that he couldn't argue too much with me." The winter spirit smiled.

"Oh no Sweet Tooth, you could never get on anyone's nerves." Tooth tried to convince him, shaking her head frantically.

Jack raised a hand to his heart, feigning a hurt expression. "Not even a little bit?"

Tooth smiled and rolled her purple eyes.

"Anyway." Jack said, floating lower so that he was the same height as the fairy. "I did come here for a reason."

"Is it about the dragon?" Tooth interjected. Jack was confused, how did she guess that so quickly. The guardian let out a ringing giggle. "Bunny told me you had stopped by the Warren earlier this week to ask him how our search was proving. Unfortunately, my findings are limited with all of the teeth coming in and none of my fairies who have been scanning their areas have noticed anything either." She apologized.

Jack sighed quietly in relief. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about the guardians." Tooth looked up expectantly. "Why don't we track anything other than human children?" He asked. He was glad the question was off his chest. Ever since earlier that night when he had finally left the party early after discussing his predicament with Eden, the question seemed to want to burst out in anger and confusion. Why would they just ignore someone like that? _How_ could they just ignore someone like that?

Tooth looked at the young winter spirit, surprised at his sudden question. "What do you mean Jack?" She asked.

Jack sighed. "Earlier this week I kind of snuck in here to try and find the dragon's memories to look for any clues on where she- it might be." He said, catching himself as he almost let too much information about Eden slip. Tooth nodded, she must've remembered him seeing as she was the one to catch him. "Afterwards, you told me we only keep tabs on the human children of the world… why?"

Tooth stared at him as if he had just asked her what his own name was. "Well, animals are a little different from children Jack, they-"

"I meant other beings." Jack cut in. Tooth raised an eyebrow. "Like, I don't know… dragons?"

Tooth's eyes widened in realization. The poor child was still worried about the message Manny had sent them all those nights ago. She silently cursed the moon for ever sending the message in the first place. She was never one to question the moon's decisions, but to frighten the boy so badly that he couldn't rest a single day without asking for confirmation, Tooth just couldn't seem to get herself to follow on the Man in the moon's decision at this point.

"Jack, do you know what a dragon is?" She asked.

Jack nodded. "Jamie told me and even gave me a book about them." He said. Tooth cringed at the last part. He had even gone so far as to bother Jamie with his worry.

"Jack, dragon's are evil creatures, they hold no feelings, no regret. They hunt, they find, and they kill." She gasped at her own harsh words as she saw Jack's expression draw into a confused look, his icy eyes grazing the floor and his staff tightly clutched within both hands. "Jack." She said, her words calming to its natural tone. The winter spirit looked up. "Dragon's don't need the protection of the guardians, and frankly, they aren't supposed to exist anymore anyways. I don't know what brought this one back, but you need to understand, it won't hurt you. Not as long as you stay with us."

Jack suppressed a long groan. Why did everyone think he was afraid for his life?! "Thanks Tooth." He smiled, not wanting to disappoint his mother figure.

"Of course Sweet Tooth!" She practically shouted, her usual peppy self returning to full power once again. Jack couldn't help but actually smiling at this. The fairy suddenly gasped, clasping her hands together and turning to the squeaking fairy behind her. "Oh! Jack look it's Henry's top left canine! Isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever-… Jack?"

Jack laughed as he leaped on the wind and flew away from the excited fairy before she could shove another blood covered tooth into his sight. As much as he loved the fluttering woman, he knew that his stomach could only handle so many teeth in one night.

The winter spirit hung onto his staff and pushed underneath him so that he was perched on the long side of the piece of wood, allowing the wind to pull his along with no true destination when a thought hit him.

"Wind." He said, a determined tone in his voice. The wind swirled around the young guardian and pilled him up. "Let's go visit Sandy." And with that, Jack was whisked through the breeze.

…

The dragon was upon her, pushing her down into the icy ground, the cold bit her shoulders almost as painfully as the claws that gripped her arms.

Snow fell heavily from the darkened and almost pitch black sky so hard the only sound she could hear was the beating of her heart in her ears. Cold wind froze her already icy arms and black fingertips and her red hair was covered in icicles, wanting to melt in the intense heat of her natural body, but freezing over again as a glaze when the cold wind stabbed at her.

Through the black of the cold night, the only thing that could be seen was the dark dragon looming over her, holding her in place and growling deeply before biting into her wrist and throwing her to the frozen lake she had seen so many times before, it seemed beautiful then, but now all she could see was black, and all she could feel was cold.

The ice began to crack under the sudden heat increase. She knew how it would end, she would fall through, she would freeze, just like she had so many times before, yet it still scared her all the same when she tried desperately to scramble off of the slippery ice growing thinner by the second before CRACK!

She was supposed to wake up now.

She always woke up after falling into the water, after dying of cold.

But she didn't.

She opened her eyes and looked around to see the light.

She sat up in the ice, to have the darkness of the night dissolve into the warmth of daylight where there wasn't a cloud in the bright blue sky.

Still, there was snow falling, but she wasn't cold, it didn't hurt when a soft flake that had seemed so evil before, landed daintily on her nose… and didn't melt.

She stood up on the ice, thick again with not a crack in sight. She hadn't fallen in.

Something hit the back of her head, startling her out of the daze she had been drawn in. She turned around to see Jack Frost. His staff in one hand while a snowball rested in the other. Smirking, he threw it. She closed her eyes, expecting it to splatter into a million water droplets when it hit her. Her eyes flung open in surprise.

The snow didn't melt.

…

Eden woke up suddenly and looked around her room. Quickly, the girl leapt out of bed and reached for her sketchbook already filled and overflowing with loose papers and drawings she had made of her usual nightmares.

She flipped open to a new page, her heart pounding so hard and the smile on her face so large she could barely hold the pencil as she drew the unmistakable figure of her new friend. Jack Frost stood, smirking and in mid throw of a snow ball.

When she finished, Eden dropped the book to the floor and clambered back into bed even though the sun was just beginning to brim the horizon. Thinking that maybe if she fell back asleep with faith in the guardians who had ignored her for so long she hadn't even cared, she might have another dream.

_**How do you like it? Please review!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**FINALLY! This chapter took me so long! But I really liked writing it. I tried to show the bonds Jack has with all of the guardians and the wind throughout the past few chapters including this one. How did you think I did?**_

Jack smiled to himself as he arrived back at the pole, it was getting pretty late, but He was glad he had stopped by to ask Sandy for the favor.

Although Tooth played the role as his mother figure, and her constant attention didn't bother him, Sandy treated him as an equal. It was almost as if the small golden man could sense when he wanted is space, and when he needed the company.

While the others usually crowded the boy, often making him feel nervous and utterly trapped, Sand man always knew when it was time for him to back away and Jack thanked him for that. Such as when he was first chosen to become a guardian. After being thrown in a sack and tossed through a swirling portal (thanks to North) the guardians instantly snapped into friendly mode. Music sounding, making his ears hurt with their constant blaring, the stomping of the Yetis that seemed to shake the ground while mini fairies darted around him, trying to wrap necklaces around his small neck as he tried to bat them away. Eventually, he lost it, banging his staff on the ground hard and making all of the noise and batting stop. And all the while, Sandy sat to the side, not reaching up to touch the confused and fairly claustrophobic spirit, but rather giving him a simple thumbs up for encouragement.

Tonight, when the winter spirit had arrived in the golden cluster of clouds where Sandy had been lazily dozing off while spirals of sand flew into bedroom windows of the children, Sandy seemed worried, just as everyone else, but didn't pester him or flock over to him or ask him questions.

He merely waved a hand at Jack and smiled before turning back to his work, allowing the boy to float about his cloud until he came around to talk about what it was he came for. He knew how hard it was for Jack to admit needing help sometimes and both Bunny and North had told him about Jack getting angry after bringing up Jack's worry in the matter.

He knew this was why Jack had come to the cloud, hoping to ask the same question, thinking he would be able to track the dragon's dreams and he had tried, but he barely knew where to look for the thing, let alone track it, so he knew Jack would probably react the very same way when he told the boy not to worry, which was why he wasn't going to.

"Hey Sandy." Jack said after a minute or two of exploring the clouded area and deciding he needed to get whatever was on his chest off. Sandy gave him a sideways glance and smiled brightly, waving a golden hand at the boy while the other let out streams of dream sand across the sky. He was going to pretend he didn't know why the spirit was here, he had bonded with Jack during their fight with Pitch when they were the only two left awake, and the last thing he wanted was to scare the boy away.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jack said hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously and tapping his long wooden staff against his knee.

Sandy nodded, turning fully to face him and gesturing for him to continue. Jack smiled sheepishly and took a deep breath. "Do you think you could make a special dream for someone for me?" He asked.

Sandy raised a golden eyebrow.

"North let me visit Jamie today and I overheard someone talking about a dream she wanted…" He began to trail off.

Sandy nodded happily and began the swirling of a perfect dream at a carnival when Jack shook his head at him. Sandy's arms slumped to his sides. He didn't want that dream? He shrugged, trying to manifest a new dream when Jack interrupted.

"I was wondering if I could make it." He said quickly, as if it had been caught in his throat the entire time.

Sandy was astonished. Jack wanted to make his own dream? Sure it was possible, of course. But why? The spirit looked at the guardian of dreams apologetically.

"Please Sandy? This is important to me."

The Sand Man sighed silently before nodding, waving the boy over to give instructions of how to manifest his own dream sand. For a guardian without the powers over the sand, it would be much more complicated than it was for him.

But why wouldn't Jack tell the guardian what he wanted the dream to be about before telling him what child to send it to? It would be much simpler. Realization hit him hard. Jack was tired of being cooped up, being thought of as weak, if he could do this on his own, it would prove both as a distraction and a way to prove he can do something on his own. So Sandy didn't question him on it. He gave him as much sand as he would need to complete the task and let his fly off with another small wave.

…

Jack heaved a sigh, flopping down on his bed and staring up at the white ice covered ceiling. He had just arrived back at the pole after receiving the dream sand from the Sand man. He greeted North quickly, mainly to let him know he was back and hadn't run into any danger of any kind.

Finally, he was back in the cool sanctuary of his own sanity… or what was left of it. Point being, he was finally alone. Alone with the sand and a decision. What was the dream going to be about?

He had to be honest with himself, he had never met anyone without dreams, let alone one not known by any of the guardians, well other than himself that is. But the thought still boggled his mind. Sure, to have no presents from Santa Christmas morning, or no extra eggs hidden in your back lawn, or even your teeth taken by mini fairies sneaking into your room in the dark of the night, they were unfortunate to not have. But they were only a few nights of the entire year, to have nightmares every night, your only break is to have no dreams at all, and to call it a peaceful night? Not if he could help it.

And luckily, he could.

Jack held up the bag of golden sand Sandy had given to him earlier that night.

What would a girl like Eden want to dream for her first dream? He thought. He knew what he wanted to dream about, that was easy. He liked the snow. He also liked dolphins, they were a lot like him. They had fun all the time, always happy and leaping great leaps into the air over the ocean current whenever Jack flew over them as they clicked and squealed at the winter spirit when meandering across the oceans to get to his next snow day. The dolphins matched perfectly since he was the guardian of fun.

But what did a dragon want as a dream?

Then he remembered. The day he first saw Eden, he had hit her with a snowball. She had looked so cold and so depressed when she saw the water drip to the ground from her bright red curls. Therefore tonight, the girl would dream of snow and ice and being able to touch it all, to not have it melt the moment it touched her warm skin.

So Jack set to work. He wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to follow Sandy's directions seeing as though he was far too excited trying to create a new dream for his friend, and added to his already short attention span of the teenager he was, he had hardly even paid attention to the golden figures appearing above the man's soft tufts of hair.

Jack merely shrugged, he would figure it out sooner or later, how hard could it be?

…Half an hour later…

Very hard, suddenly, Jack wished he could go back and ask Sandy for another demonstration, but his embarrassment and fear that Sandy might suddenly become interested in his decision (which was the last thing he needed at the moment) he didn't.

The bag's contents had been dumped onto the sheets of the bed on which the spirit sat on with crossed legs and a determined face as he tried manipulating the sand such as he had seen the Sand man do so many times before.

Jack though for a moment.

He had already tried spreading the sand into a flat plane and drawing what he imagined the dream to be like… although, after seeing Eden's drawings, they looked more like something Sophie would try to make.

Jack huffed, making some of the sand blow up into the air and swirl for a moment, glowing a pale gold before dropping back to the bed. Jack face palmed. Of course! Not wanting to gather the sand up with his hands, Jack summoned the wind in from the open window. The wind greeted him briefly before dying away a bit to allow its friend to give it its next favor.

For the past three-hundred years, the wind had been Jack's only friend until the guardians came along. The wind had been with him since it first found the boy trapped under the ice, being slowly lifted by the pull of the Man in the moon. It quickly swirled around the boy as he gasped for air. He had looked so scared, and the wind wanted nothing more than to protect its new friend. That was exactly how Jack felt about the dragon-girl. The wind could sense it the moment they met, luckily, Jack had found the kind one before the cruel one, it had been so reluctant to take him, it didn't want the boy to be hurt.

But the moment they met, the moment Jack began questioning his motives, the wind knew how strong the friendship was already, he wanted nothing more than to protect her. Protect her from Pitch, the evil, the darkness… the guardians.

Jack pointed his staff at the bed, a determined line pressing his mouth closed as if the words didn't want to come out. But the wind understood perfectly, lifting the golden sand into the air and letting it swirl around the boy.

Instantly, the sand began to glow brightly, just like it did when Sandy used it. He reached a tentative hand towards the glowing vortex of dream sand and it parted, leaving a large snowflake where his hand had been, he allowed it to spin around him before thinking of the next part of the dream.

A girl with curly hair stood on one side of the frozen lake Jack had called home for so long. She stood there as the snowflake he had first manifested, floated down to land on her nose. It didn't melt. Jack smiled at his work. Looking good so far, all it needed was a bit of fun.

A snowball exploded at the back of her head. The surprised expression on her face, even in the swirling sand made Jack chuckle. The girl turned around to face… Jack.

At first, it seemed weird to place himself in someone else's dream, but who else would throw a snowball at the back of her head. He had done it before hadn't he? He left it as it was, he liked the dream so far. He figured he could let the rest to Eden's own mind as the good dreams finally took over the bad.

The sand swirling around him began to make the boy sleepy. "Take this to Eden please." He asked the wind, yawning and stretching as the sand whirled away from him and out the open window. "He would have to ask what Eden thought of her first dream (the first of many yet to come, he had decided) the next time he saw her. This was going to be Christmas Eve.

The same day he would drop by to hang out with Jamie and Sophie while North finished his rounds, he would sneak off to give Eden her first gift that he would take from one of the many extra or 'wrong color' of toys from North's workshop.

He was going to make a new believer out of his new friend.

_**What do you think?**_

_**PLEASE review!**_


	11. Chapter 11

"Nobody knows, the trouble I've seen!"

"Oh boy, not again." North winced as the boy began singing again from the guest bedroom down the hall. That boy had been bothering him all day since he got back from Jamie's. He didn't know why he had made Jack stay the week anyway, he was getting a full day off and it didn't seem to give the guardians much time to find the dragon since they were all watching over the youngest to make sure he didn't get himself into any more trouble.

"Nobody knows my sorrow!"

The large men couldn't help but smile at the boy's antics. "What am I to do with that boy?" He asked himself, chuckling at the mere thought of trying to control Jack.

He reached across the desk for the porcelain head of the doll he had finally started creating. Although it was only two days until Christmas, the shop was not as busy as usual, the Yetis worked all year to make toys for the children of the world, and since Pitches escapade last year, the man took no chances in losing any time, he doubled production, following Bunny's example in creating an extra set for incase anything happened.

The body of the doll was already clothed in a dainty brown and red floral skirt that reached her knees and furled out under the red coat that hung over her shoulders. The hands were covered in black mittens, matching the leggings that the doll wore. Brown boots filled with soft fur covered the porcelain feet and laced up the sides.

The head was in place but didn't have a painted face yet. North reached into his desk for the paintbrush, dipping it in the water. The water instantly turned a pale beige color. Due to the high demand in paint colors to North's expenses, the guardian had created a paintbrush that ran on pure imagination, no more mixing of colors and wasting precious time and paint to create the perfect tone, it took him a few years, but the last four-hundred or so have been much easier to create the colors as toy demands on brighter colors rose through the ages.

He lifted the brush to the plain white doll face and touched it to the porcelain, the color spread like Jack's frost designs that now ran through his narrow hallways since the boy was living with him. Soon, the snaky paint had covered the head so that the tone now matched with the rest of the pale complexion covering the rest of the body.

The red curls were already twisting down the sides of the doll's face, tickling North's hands as he tried to paint the details on the face. The lips were curved into a small smile, one side curling up higher than the other. It had been a mistake, but North decided that he liked the little imperfection, all of his toys were so perfect there was nothing to tell them apart, this one had a true personality, and North liked that. He finished the lips with a soft red shade, slightly lighter than the one he had first used on the drawing, red was the shade he used on all of his dolls, but this one was going to be different, so her lips took on a tone of a normal girl's lips with a slightly red tone, although any shade would stick out amongst the pale face.

That reminded him. He dipped the brush back into the water, turning a pink color now. North touched it lightly to the doll's cheeks and the color spread, creating rosy cheeks and somehow curling up to where he eyes would be, making the smile look even more unique and somehow larger.

North excitedly dipped the brush back into the water, it turned white for north to paint the large eyes on. They were lined with dark black eyelashes, making them even larger, yet not scary. He dipped again. The eyes were always his favorite things to paint on the dolls. The eyes held the personality, the wonder and the happiness. North believed entirely in the saying 'the eyes are the window to the soul.' It was true.

On his small wooden baby, his center was expressed by his large, round eyes that saw the wonder and magic in the world. On Jack's wooded figure he had given the boy after defeating Pitch last year, his icy blue eyes were big and rounded, curled up at the bottom because the large smirk he wore pinched them into a happy squint, reflecting his center of fun.

But the eyes were important. Luckily, North had a good feeling about the shade of green in his wondrous mind, he could feel it… in his belly.

The brush barely touched the doll's small eyes and the irises grew. The deep green made North smile as he looked down at his work. He gave the doll her pupils, and the light that shined naturally in the light sparkled.

Finally, he was finished. He placed the doll on the shelf next to his stack of multiple-personality dolls, and left the room to check on the Christmas progress, with only two days left, the man had been so preoccupied with Jack that he barely even remembered.

…

Jack leapt off of the bed and left the room. He had run out of songs to sing to annoy North and frankly, his throat hurt from shouting down the hall for so long. So he decided that now was a perfect time to find a present for his new friend.

A first present, it had to be special. Of course for someone who had never gotten a present on Christmas from North would probably be ecstatic over a half-eaten cookie that he had snatched from one of the elves, but he wanted Eden to relive her actual childhood by embracing the actual child in her. She needed toys.

Jack walked into the workshop where countless Yetis and elves were making and testing this Christmas' toys (and in the elves case electrocuting themselves.) His staff was slung over one shoulder as he floated down into the large mass of fur and exploding light bulbs.

He saw a Yeti with one of North's special paintbrushes, carefully and skillfully painting a yellow robot which he knew was on Jamie's Christmas list. He thought momentarily on teasing the Yeti by telling him North didn't like the color and to paint them blue, but he knew that this close to Christmas, that would only end up getting into more trouble than he was already in… that and the fact that the Yeti probably wouldn't believe him if he told him North trusted him enough to pass the message on. The Yeti's knew Jack well enough but he couldn't tell the difference between any of them, how did North do it? Besides Phil of course. Three-hundred years of being chased out of the workshop after trying to break in made him a bit more familiar with the specific furry giant. But everyone else looked the same to him, it was like Baby Tooth amongst all other fairies.

He passed a line of stuffed bears. Surely North could spare one of these right? Jack picked one up as if to inspect it only to have the thing snatched from his grasp by one of the furry giants and put back down on the table.

"Kabba nucamana!" It blubbered angrily, shaking a finger at Jack as if to scold him.

With nothing to respond with, Jack merely stuck out his tongue playfully and floated over to the next line of toys. The Yeti rolled his eyes, even they were beginning to grow tired of the boy.

Jack passed a line of rubber ducks, plastic guitars that lit up when you strummed it, cars, rag dolls, and ballerina slippers which a few elves were testing over their already shoe covered feet only to fall clumsily to the ground because they were too large for them.

Jack chuckled before turning around and looking back at the workshop. Had he really found nothing to give Eden?

Nothing had caught his attention for the girl. And here he thought it would be easy. Sure, he could pick out a present for both Jamie and Sophie in a heartbeat, but he still barely knew Eden, how was he supposed to get her to gain trust in the guardians if he couldn't even get her something to begin with?

He found himself trudging back down the corridors and back to his room of which he now called his prison cell. "Jack!" He looked up to see North stopping down the hall, a large giddy smile spread across his face. "Glad to see you have come out of room. I am going to get cookies, want to come?" The large man invited, gesturing with one arm towards the kitchen.

Jack shook his head. "No thanks North, I'm good." He said, suddenly getting an idea. North simply shrugged before tromping back down the narrow hallway.

As soon as the man was out of sight and hearing range, Jack quickly floated up to the door to North's office. It wasn't locked. The winter spirit looked around cautiously to see if anyone was watching before leaning with all of his weight, and part of the wind's force, to open the heavy door, quickly and quietly shutting it behind him.

He turned around and smiled happily at the large room. It mainly held prototypes of broken toys or the ice sculptures of the wondrous possibilities the wonder guardian thought up. At first, Jack had thought that maybe he could take one of the unmeltable ice sculptures to give to his friend, she did want to touch ice right? Or at least, he thought she did.

But he wasn't sure how the ice would affect her, fire and ice don't mix well. Would it hurt her? He put the ice train he had been caressing in his hand back down on the desk before looking around at the rest of the room. Again, nothing caught his eye, that is, until they landed on a certain red haired doll in the corner of the room.

Jack gasped audibly, it looked just like her, exactly like her. It was perfect, beautiful. The eyes the smile. Jack held the doll up daintily, he didn't want to break it. The porcelain faces of the glass dolls usually scared Jack half out of his wits, the corners of their mouths never reaching a true smile while the eyes stared creepily into the distance. They were absolutely terrifying.

But this one held Jack's gaze. The delicate lips curling into her half smile that somehow still reached her eyes fully, making the green eyes glow brighter and warmer than ever. North had even got the pale complexion right, the dark clothes accenting the rosy cheeks and the red curls that spun down the back of her neck.

Caressing the doll in one hand, Jack opened the door with all his might, slowly with the other, poking his head out to see if anyone was watching. When he saw no one coming down the hall from either way, he made a beeline to the cell. Slamming the door closed behind him, Jack set the doll in a safe corner under his bed so that no one would find it until he finished wrapping it.

Now to find wrapping paper… this was going to be, in North's words, epic.

_**HORAAAAY!**_

_**So I have a question for all of you, should one of the guardians find out about Eden and Jack's friendship? If so, please tell me who you want it t be.**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**HORAY!**_

_**Okay, since I know some of you are like me and don't read the authors notes at the bottom, I will put this at the top of this chapter.**_

_**I'm thinking of having one of the other guardians find out about Eden but I don't know who. If you have any ideas, please leave the in a review.**_

_**Now, on with the story!**_

It was Christmas Eve and the sleigh was being filled to the brim with beautifully wrapped presents for the children of the world as the Yetis stacked the boxes into the never-ending red bag. North was watching happily as the large furry giants passed along the packages from one hand to the next until it ended up in the void of the sack.

The large man reached behind him and grabbed a cookie from an unsuspecting elf who was mid bite into the stolen cookie. The elf 'awwed' in defeat, dropping his tiny arms to his sides before his eyes lit up at the sight of another discarded treat.

"Ah! Careful with that one! It is breakable!" North shouted, scolding a couple of the Yeti's who were unconsciously tossing packages into the bag, allowing them to tumble to the bottom where anything could happen to the many breakable objects tucked under the colorful paper.

The Yetis, who had been placing the gifts in the bag for hours and were beginning to drift off into the deep rhythm, looked up, startled by the sudden booming of the guardian's voice. Looking down into their hands to see the gifts tossed and jumbled in their grasps, they struggled to arrange the packages neatly into the bottomless sack.

North chuckled to himself before seeing something move from the corners of his eyes. "Jack!" The man bellowed, making the winter spirit flinch before shoving something behind his back.

North tromped over to the fidgeting guardian. "North! Hi North." The large man raised a bushy eyebrow and crossed his arms. He couldn't help but smile at the young spirit who was tugging at the drawstrings of his blue hoodie before his eyes finally met North's. He smiled sheepishly and guiltily pulled a tube of wrapping paper. "I was wondering if I could borrow this?" He said, his voice quivering into the shape of a question.

"Ah! A personal gift for Jamie boy?" North guessed, not quite understanding why Jack had been so secretive.

Jack's eyes lit up. He hadn't thought of that excuse. He nodded quickly, his white hair bobbing at the sudden diversion. "Yup, can I use it?" He asked.

North let a smile crack, the boy was finally embracing the Christmas spirit this year. "Of course Jack." He said. "Do you need help with wrapping?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "No." He said, a bit offended by the question. "Why would I need help? All it is is a bit of tearing, cutting, and taping… right?"

North nodded, it was all he could do not to laugh. "Of course, I simply thought since you have not wrapped gift before that you could use a bit of help."

Jack scoffed. "Never wrapped a gift? I've wrapped hundreds of gifts." He said with a wave of his hand. North tapped his fingers lightly on his naughty arm and chuckled. "Besides, how hard can it be?"

… An entire roll of wrapping paper and eighty strips of tape later…

Jack tore off another piece of the wrapping paper and slapped a piece of sticky tape, which was beginning to fold in on itself, to the remaining corner of the box in which he had placed the porcelain doll in. That part was easy. He had stuffed the box to the brim with tissue paper before placing the rolling red curls into its cocoon of paper.

Unfortunately, in the three-hundred years of his existence, Jack had never actually wrapped a present (who knew right?) It wasn't wrapped to perfection like one of North's or the Yeti's, but the mangled package made Jack smile contently as he held it up in front of him.

He knew Eden would love her first gift from North. Or at least, that was the name he had put on the ball of crumpled paper. His hand was shaky from the excitement bubbling up in his stomach. He had never given anyone else a gift before. Besides his sister that is.

Jack frowned at the memory of his sister, the one he had risked and lost his life for. He protected her… and he got lost during it. But he had a second chance with the dragon-girl. She was counting on him whether she knew it or not. He was a guardian, and it was his job to restore her belief in the others… even if she didn't even know she had lost it in the first place.

He did his best to copy North's intricate and frustratingly fancy cursive writing. 'To: Eden. From: Santa.' Jack bit his lip as he tried to scribble over his first mistake of almost writing North instead of his other name known by the children of the world.

The winter spirit tilted his head and squinted before a smirk spread across his lips. "Perfect." He said to himself.

"Jack!" North said, bursting through the door and startling Jack into falling off of the bed, clutching the gift to his chest, although with as much paper as there was covering the thing, there was really no way of breaking the contents at all. The thing was practically indestructible.

North laughed at the mass of limbs on the floor as the winter spirit flung himself from the sheets and toppled to the ground, a red and green flash caught between the mess. "Jack, are you ready, it is almost time to deliver presents."

Jack looked up, revealing the garbled figure in his arms. "Ready." He said, lifting himself to his feet and flipping up his staff with his foot so that it was clutched comfortably in his hand.

North's eyes widened. Jack followed his confused gaze, landing on his gift to Eden. He held it out proudly in front of him so the guardian of wonder could bask in all its glory.

The man reached a tentative finger out to poke the paper, as if afraid that it would eat his entire hand. "Is that…" North drew the last line out, hoping Jack would finish for him.

"Jamie's gift!" Jack said, a large smile plastered on his face, obviously proud of his achievement.

North cleared his throat trying to cover up a snort. Despite the fact that Jack had said he had wrapped hundreds of gifts in his time, due to the empty roll of wrapping paper and mangled pieces of tape which he could only imagine the frost child wrestling with. "Ah, good job." He managed. "Now. To the sleigh!" He announced, turning out of the room and making his way down the long corridor, shrugging on his heavy fur coat.

The Yetis followed him out into the hallway, giving him status on the sleigh and announcing that it was indeed time to make the rounds of Christmas.

North pushed the large doors to the cold room where the red sleigh stood tall above the Yeti's that were struggling to keep the reindeer together as they attached them to the sleigh.

Jack was already at the large red vehicle, holding onto his gift while watching the Yetis and elves prepare for takeoff. The monstrous reindeer reared as the large bearded man boarded the sleigh, settling in next to Jack who was bouncing up and down in his seat.

"First stop, Burgess!" North shouted, ignoring the protesting Yetis as they tried to stop the guardian from leaving before preparations were finished. The white bearded man grabbed the reins and flipped them with his wrists, chuckling as they, along with the elves tried to scramble out of the way of the vicious reindeer that began to charge down the large ice track.

"WOOHOO!"

North turned around to see Jack with his arms high in the air and whooping into the breeze as the sleigh took off into the sky. The guardian smiled before pulling one of his snow globes out of his coat and shook it in his large hands. "To the Bennet's." He said, glancing at Jack, who nodded happily before the guardian threw the globe into the sky in front of them.

A portal opened up and the sleigh passed through, coming out somewhere over the buildings of Burgess. Jack laughed, looking down to spot Jamie's house first. "There!" He shouted, leaping off the sleigh and racing towards the red house.

North rolled his eyes and landed the Sleigh atop the Bennet roof. Jack had already made it into the window and was struggling with the three year-old clutched to his leg and Jamie jumping up and down on his springy bed.

Jamie poked his head out the window to wave at the man on his roof. "Hey North!" The child waved. North smiled and handed down two beautifully wrapped presents to the boy, who caught them, one in each hand. "Wow! Sophie look, Santa brought our presents!" He cried, ducking back into the room where his sister was bouncing with glee.

"Present present present!" She cried.

North smiled to himself. "Jack!" The snow spirit poked his head out the window. "I am leaving now, I will be back soon."

"Not too soon!" Jamie's voice cried from inside.

North chuckled. "Okay, see ya North!" Jack waved. He watched from the window until North's sleigh disappeared into another swirling portal. He turned around to face Jamie and Sophie who were sitting on the bed, staring confusedly at the mess of wrapping paper and tape settled on the sheets.

"Jack?" Jamie asked, poking the crinkled paper. "What is this?"

Jack leapt up and grabbed the package holding it out in front of him so the kids could get a better look. "This is a gift for Eden." He said.

Jamie raised an eyebrow. "You got Eden a gift?"

Jack tapped his chin, considering whether or not he should tell the boy why. "Eden has never gotten a gift from North before." He finally said.

"Why? She can't be on the naughty list." The little boy pressed.

"No it's not that!" He said quickly. "She just, didn't grow up ever believing in him. Her parents didn't celebrate Christmas like you do." He settled.

Jamie frowned. "But Eden's adopted."

This caught Jack's attention. "She is?" Jamie nodded. This only made Jack want to deliver the gift faster than ever. She grew up without her true parents and the guardians were never there to help her. "I'm going to be right back." He said.

The frost spirit leapt onto the ledge of the open window, searching for the brown house on the other side of the street before leaping out, mass of paper in hand until he reached the brown house and taking off, North style, down the chimney.

"Oof!" He puffed out as he tumbled out onto the white carpeting. The chimney spit him out so that he toppled straight into the brightly lit and festive Christmas tree. "Sheesh, for someone who has never been noticed by North before, she sure does take the holidays seriously." He said to himself.

"Hello." Jack sat up. The voice belonged to Eden. The young guardian threw the indestructible gift under the tree and took off back through the chimney just as the footsteps down the stairs became louder.

Jack drew in a breath of relief. He had gotten the gift to Eden without her knowing it was him. His plan was turning out quite well so far. He was going to get her to believe again.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cough. Black smoke puffed out of his mouth and he wiped away the soot from his face. "Oh great." He grumbled, shaking the powder from his now grey hair.

_**YAY!**_

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	13. Chapter 13

_**HOORAH!**_

_**Finally getting a bit more epic in this chapter, also the longest I have written so far!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

Christmas day. Eden was already awake, she had been since one in the morning and had never been able to fall back asleep. She was slightly disappointed in the fact that she didn't have another good dream that night and was instead drawn into her old nightmare, not that is scared her so much anymore, it was just disappointing to fall back asleep just to be attacked again.

She awoke to a crash in the downstairs living room. She sat up in her purple and messy bed. She had obviously been tossing and turning that night in her sleep. She rose two tentative hands with spread out fingers to touch the wild mess that was her hair and groaned as she felt her curls knotted together atop her head.

She tried to comb them out with her finger tips when she heard another bang. Was someone else in the house? She shook it off as just Videre getting up to put last minute presents under the tree when her ears perked up.

Although in her human form, Eden could still hear just as well as she could if she were in her dragon body. They twitched under the mass of wild hair as she picked up another sound. Videre's snoring.

She listened again, this time leaning towards the door as if it would help her hear better. Someone was definitely downstairs. She could hear them grumbling something to themselves. She threw the covers off of her pink and green pajama covered body, instantly sending a chill up her spine as the cold air from outside the safety of her thick blankets rushed in to meet her pale skin.

She pushed the through aside, slipping out of her room and into the darkened hallway. Upon passing Videre's bedroom, she looked in to see the sleeping woman, assuring her that someone else was here. But why? To steal presents? It made sense, it was the holiday season, heck, it was the holiday! Desperate parents call for desperate measures right?

Yet she couldn't pull herself from the staircase. Eden placed a hand on the railing and tried to lean over to see who was in her house, but wasn't able to get a good enough angle. Then the thought struck her. Did Santa come?

She smiled fondly at the thought before it fell from her face and was replaced by a frown and a furrowed brow. Why now? No, it wasn't Santa, he had ignored her for this long, he wasn't going to stop now. Besides, the shadow cast along the floor was far too thin to be the hefty guardian.

She finally gathered up enough courage to call out to the stranger. "Hello?" She stammered.

The figure froze and something was tossed back under the tree. She couldn't see what it was, but she could definitely hear the jingling of the glass ornaments clinking together and the rustle of the branches before another noise sounded from the living room.

Eden took a deep breath. This was her house. She couldn't be afraid in her own house. She took the first step down the staircase and then another, until she was in the clearing. No one was there. But there was soot everywhere around the chimney and she sniffed as the dust kicked up tickled her nose.

She turned to the brightly lit tree and smiled even brighter. There was a new package.

Later that morning, after Videre woke up and was greeted by her peppy fiery haired teenager, the two sat down around the tree. Videre lifted an eyebrow at the imprint of a scrawny body etched in black soot into the white carpet. "Did Daniel come over last night or is Santa on a diet?" She said playfully.

Eden looked over and almost spit out her cocoa when she saw the mark on the floor, the thing looked like a crime scene. She finally managed to choke down the hot liquid and chuckled. Videre rolled her eyes and joined her adopted daughter on the floor.

Eden loved Christmas, and half an hour later, when most all of the gifts were opened, her smile had only grown larger. She didn't like Christmas because of the gifts. She loved how happy people got when they thought about the special day, the movie specials and Christmas carolers. She loved it all.

Finally, Videre reached under the tree for the last gift and stared at it incredulously, turning the mangled piece of paper in her hands. "Seems Daniel did sneak in last night." She mumbled before handing it to Eden, who took it gently into her own palms.

She didn't care about the paper, it made the package all the more mysterious that way. Something white caught her eye and she rotated the mess so that the sticky tag faced her. 'To: Eden' it read. 'From: Santa.' The 'S' was scribbled over with what looked like the start of an 'N' and the lettering was shaky.

"Well." Videre said, gesturing with her coffee mug to unwrap the thing. "Are you going to open it, or let it eat you first?" She said, crackling a smile while the crinkling of paper range through the silent room.

It took about five minutes to get all of the paper and tape off of the package. But when she saw the brown cardboard box, Eden's breathing only became more rapid. Who was this from? Did Daniel really sneak in to give it to her, or was it truly Santa clause. Her finger stopped short on the top of the box as the idea came crashing down on her.

_"I'm sorry you were ignored for so long. It won't happen again."_

The words echoed in her head. Jack Frost. The gift was from Jack Frost.

Her fingers reached under the lip of the lid and pulled up to reveal more packaging. Videre sighed a barely audible squeak of disbelief. How could someone use so much packaging without losing themselves in it as well? She honestly wouldn't have been too surprised if someone came tumbling out of the paper.

Eden took out the tissue paper and gasped, a smile prickling the edges of her lips, barely pulling them into a grin. "What is it dear?" Videre asked. He daughter pulled out a beautiful hand crafted doll.

"Well that's a startling resemblance." The two turned to see Daniel in the doorway.

"Daniel, what are you doing here? It's Christmas."

Daniel smiled. "Just came to bring your gifts, I forgot to give them to you earlier."

"Meaning you just got them last night?" Eden suggested.

Daniel's smile dropped from his face. "You ruin everything." He said, sticking out his tongue playfully. Eden returned it with her own tongue.

"I thought that was his gift." Videre said. A confused look crossing her face. Daniel looked over to the mess of tape, paper, and cardboard and shook his head.

"Please, I'm a professional gift wrapper." He said, pulling two bags stuffed messily with tissue paper from behind his back.

"And by 'bought them yesterday,' I meant this morning." Eden chuckled.

Daniel glared at her. "Everything ruiner!"

Videre chuckled slightly to herself as she watched the two bicker. This Christmas was turning out to be the mellowest yet.

…

Jack was reclining in one of North's red chairs. The guardians had all been called together for an annual Christmas party that North held every year and the Yetis, although they were supposed to have the day off, were rushing around to set the place up so that it would somehow look even more festive than it already was.

The winter spirit was in an exceptionally good mood today, and he didn't think that anything would be able to spoil it at this point. He had delivered the gift to Eden, which she had probably opened by now, and she had no idea it was him who gave it to her.

Jamie and Sophie both loved their gifts, they had opened them before Jack had to leave. Jamie had jumped for joy upon opening his yellow robot while Sophie squealed with glee at the sight of her new stuffed bunny, which Jack had given the idea for. He had thought briefly upon telling the Yeti's she wanted a kangaroo, but she probably wouldn't have understood the joke. Her favorite guardian was Bunny.

Jack wished he could visit Eden to see how she liked her gift, but he still had two days until he was allowed to leave the pole. He would have to meet her then. He was sure she would love the doll, it looked just like her… or was that creepy? He couldn't tell.

A few Yetis rushed past him with another two chairs to circle the fireplace so that the other guardians could sit and 'be merry.' Jack had pushed his chair slightly further from the heat so that he wasn't puffing harshly just to get a breath of air but was still angled so that he was still in the circle of chairs.

"Jack! Merry Christmas!" Tooth burst in through the open window and, with three or four other fairies, including Baby Tooth, enveloped him in an unsuspected hug. When she pulled away, her face was pulled into a large grin, showing off all of her pearly white teeth.

"Merry Christmas Tooth." Jack returned, when the door behind him opened, revealing the other guardians.

"Hi Sandy." Jack greeted. The golden man waved a golden hand in his direction. "Kangaroo."

"Frostbite." The Pooka answered, the smallest glint of a smile forming upon his furry lips. "Merry Christmas."

Jack just smiled.

"Yes, Merry Christmas to all! Now, for the annual guardian Christmas party!" North announced. The doors flung open again and dozens of furry giants filled the room, each carrying a platter of food.

Jack's mouth began to water. So. Much. Food. His stomach growled.

Bunny chuckled. "Hungry are ya Snowflake?" He asked.

Sandy rubbed his golden stomach and licked his lips as if to agree with Jack's belly. North smiled and held up his arms, everyone turned to him. "Let us feast!" He declared.

Jack ha grabbed a turkey leg and a few cookies before sitting back down in his red seat while he waited for the others who struggled under their loaded plates that were stacked high with food. The guardians began eating, shoving bits of food into their mouths between stories from the past year.

"… and he was so small and fluffy." North laughed.

Bunny looked up from his carrot filled platter to glare at the bearded man. "Hey! I told you never ta speak of that again." He growled through gritted teeth. Jack laughed as Bunny tried to stop the others from remembering last year's fluffy bunny form he had taken on when all the lights on the globe had gone out. All except for Jamie that is.

"Jack, you're barely eating." Tooth said, her own plate, although much smaller than the others, was still piled high with chocolates which were, in her words, 'the only sweets worth risking a cavity over.'

The others turned to stare at Jack's plate as he peeled at his turkey leg. And here he had thought he was overindulging himself. He looked down, he saw nothing wrong with it. Food was food right? "What?" He asked.

"Jack, it is called feast because there is plenty of food to eat. Why do you not eat?" North asked.

Jack shrugged. "I am eating, see?" He said, raising the entire leg up to his mouth, taking a large sickening bite that made his stomach unsettled. He grimaced as he pulled away from the meat. "I just don't eat that much okay?" He stated. Here they go, worrying about his 'well being' again.

"Jack, when was the last time you ate something?" Tooth asked.

Jack thought for a moment. Being practically homeless for the past three-hundred years, it was hard to come across food, he soon figured out that he no longer needed food to survive and eventually stopped craving it entirely.

"Last Easter, I ate one of Bunny's eggs while we were decorating… sorry Bunny." He offered, hoping for a distraction of the kangaroo leaping up and tackling him to the ground for eating one of his precious egglets. But he was just as dumbfounded as the rest. It was becoming quite nerve wracking.

"The last thing you ate was one of my eggs?" Bunny asked.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I couldn't help it, who knew chocolate tasted so good?" He said, taking a bite from one of the chocolate chip cookies that balanced on his lap.

Everyone stared at the boy. Jack swallowed hard, it was like trying to swallow a rock as big as his fist. "Present time?" It came out as a question, but anything to get the guardians' eyes off of him.

Tooth lit up and flew out of her seat, sending the chocolate treats to the floor where five or six elves quickly gathered around. She quickly shrunk back at the looks everyone gave her. "Sorry, I'm just so excited. I found the perfect presents for all of you!" She said, bumping her wrists together excitedly.

Jack sighed, glad to have a distraction.

The others ran out quickly to retrieve their gifts while Jack merely pulled his out from under the chair he sat in. The guardians ran in from various parts of the building with packaged gifts in their grasps.

Jack had opened a golden dolphin from Sandy, sculpted completely out of dream sand, a chocolate snowflake from Bunny which he knew wouldn't last long with Tooth staring at it wildly. He wouldn't be able to eat the entire thing anyway, and flying around with it would be difficult, he'd give her some when Bunny wasn't looking, from Tooth, he received a new silver memory casket, said to put anything special and worth a good memory inside it so that he can always relive that moment, North gave him a beautiful necklace (man necklace) with a sparkling snowflake at the end.

Jack had made all of the other guardians ice sculptures, a miniature figure of each guardian, North with two swords pulled out in front of him. Sandy's had ice-dream sand swirling around him, managing to detail the unicorns and dinosaurs running about inside the swirl. Tooth was somehow posed floating above the ice platform on which the mini fairies stared up at her in awe while she grabbed teeth from multiple pillows above her. Bunny held a boomerang in one hand, his deadly and annoying side, and an egglet in the other, his sensitive… and still annoying counter side of the Kangaroo.

Everyone exchanged smiles and 'thank you's when North stood up suddenly. "I have surprise!" He cried, running down the hall like a child.

North opened the door to his office, the big smile on his face only growing brighter when he turned to face the desk on which he had placed the beautiful doll he wanted to show the others. He froze, the smile plastered where it was, he couldn't move. Where was the doll? The large man turned around, had he placed it on a shelf? No, definitely the desk.

The doll was gone.

_**LONGEST CHAPTER EVER!**_

_**Good night.**_

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	14. Chapter 14

_**YAY! I think you guys will like this chapter!**_

"No I wasn't! I coulda taken all the nightmares and Pitch if I hadn't been protecting you Frosty!" Bunny practically shouted at the laughing winter spirit while the other guardians hid their smiles in the deep hot chocolate mugs, trying to keep the Easter bunny off of their cases.

"Is that why you ran and hid under a car?" Jack asked, his smirk sliding even higher up on his cheek bones.

"I wasn't hidin', I was creating a diversion." Bunny corrected, pointing one of his wooden boomerangs at the laughing young guardian. Technically, it was North's fault for bringing up the subject of the Pooka's cute and fluffiness of last year's fight.

Jack just kept laughing and the large rabbit was tempted to throw the boomerang at him and would probably have done it if North didn't come storming into the room with a worried expression lining his usual jolly face.

Tooth looked up from her mug and stared at the bearded man, wondering what exactly had the guardian so upset on Christmas day. "North?" She began, tilting her head as if to catch his attention, but his eyes were scanning to floors until he saw one of the Yetis on the other side of the room, refilling the cookie platter.

"Steve!" He hollered. The furry beast looked up with wide eyes, hoping he hadn't done anything to upset North at a time like this. "Do you know if anyone had gone into my office today?" He asked. The Yeti sighed in relief before shaking his head. North huffed a sigh of discontent and flopped back down into his large red chair that sat in front of the fire place.

The room had quieted down quite a bit since he had returned and Bunny and Jack had both sprung to their original seats so that they weren't caught in the crossfire of the situation. Jack stared blankly at the golden dolphin Sandy had gifted him and refused to meet anyone's eyes. He had gone into the office today and he feared what North might be so worked up about.

"Is everything alright North?" Tooth asked, floating over to his side and placing a small hand on his tattooed bicep.

The man looked up, confusion swirling in his eyes and Jack had to fight the urge to dart out of the room. "Something is missing." He said flatly in a barely audible whisper.

Bunny raised a fluffy eyebrow and looked over at Sandy who just shrugged in return. "Waddaya mean 'missing'?" He asked, noticing Jack shrinking down in his seat across the room.

North stood up suddenly, sending Tooth flitting back to her seat and grabbing a chocolate off of her plate out of pure distraction. Everything got that fairy worried.

"Someone stole a very important toy." He explained.

"Don't you think 'stole' is a bit rash? I mean, what if you just misplaced it or something?" Jack stated, his voice shaking a bit and his smile faltering as he fiddled with the sparkling snowflake at the end of his man-necklace. _**(A/N)**_

North turned to him and the young spirit shrunk down even further in his seat, trying to find another one of his gifts to distract himself with. "I did not misplace this, I put it on the desk next to the door of my office, and now it is gone someone stole it I can feel it…"

"In your belly." Everyone finished for him, leaving the stunned North standing frozen in the midst of it all with his hands placed on his stomach for emphasis.

"What exactly did you lose anyway?" Tooth asked. "We can help you look for it." Sandy nodded and gave the guardian a thumbs up in agreement.

"A porcelain doll." He answered plainly.

Jack winced, hoping no one had noticed his fidgety motions as the conversation continued on.

Unfortunately, someone had. Bunny glanced at the winter spirit from the corner of his eyes, frowning at how quiet he had suddenly become, he looked as if he wanted to simply disappear into the chair and become invisible to the others as the conversation proceeded on. He picked up the chocolate snowflake that Bunny had made him and began tracing the intricate outline of the shape with his index finger as he didn't let his gaze stray to meet anyone's eyes.

Jack knew something about this missing doll.

…

Eden smiled contently as she set the doll up on her dresser. She had cleared away the lose paper that had been cluttering her room and placed it all into a drawer already overflowing with her pictures. It felt weird suddenly being able to see her floor and not having to memorize a path around the obstacles that usually littered her room, but it was important for her to place her first gift from a guardian, even if it wasn't from North, in a safe clean place where she could actually see it.

As much as she wanted to stand it up, she didn't have a stand to hold it in place and she was afraid that simply leaning the beautiful gift against the wall would cause it to slip and possibly crack, so it sat upright in the center of the dark wood where it wouldn't topple over and break.

It was perfect.

To be truthful, she never thought much of the guardians until now. She was used to being ignored for her entire life that it just didn't bother her. When she was younger, she would ask her parents why Santa from the movies that showed on television never came to their house, but never questioned anything after her father explained their place in the guardian's sights. But looking at the gift made her heart leap practically out of her chest. It made her so happy.

She knew Christmas wasn't about presents, the spirit of the holiday itself made her erratic with happiness and joy only because that was how she had always celebrated it. After moving in with Videre when she was eight, that was her first time enjoying Christmas from a different perspective of giving and receiving gifts.

When her adoptive mother had found out about her not ever knowing who the tooth fairy was, she would trying to sneak in and steal the lost tooth out from under Eden's pillow at night. Unfortunately, being eight meant that most of her baby teeth were already lost in the depths of a trashcan when discarded by the young girl.

Eden always knew it was Videre who replaced her teeth with quarters, placed the presents from 'Santa' under the tree at night, and hid the eggs in her back yard, but she never had the heart to tell her. Jack wasn't the first guardian she had ever seen either.

She remembered seeing the Sand man high in the sky one night, sending spindly golden strands of dream sand to every house but hers. She remembered watching as the other dreams materialized above the homes and falling asleep to other children's dreams. Again, nightmares were a normal thing for her, they no longer scared her like they used to.

She had met the Boogeyman once as well. He had been the only immortal to not exclude her from their duties… unfortunately.

She had been nine at the time and had awoken from one of her usual dreamless nights that she usually had. Pure nothingness. The man was standing in her room, smiling down at her with amber eyes that glowed in the darkness.

"So you can see me after all." He said in a calm yet eerie voice.

Eden stared at him and slowly nodded. Was this what a dream felt like? Was she finally having one? The man chuckled to himself and the little girl reached across to turn on her lamp when a cold hand caught her arm.

"Do you know what that means?" He asked her.

The girl shook her head violently.

"Didn't think so. It means you fear me." The man said, tightening his grasp on her forearm. If this was a dream, she didn't like it. "You have so much fear for such a young child, I like it." He smiled.

Eden's heart started to pound against her chest and she tried to pull away. The eyes narrowed and got closer to the child's face. "And with no guardians to protect the little creature, I have all the fear I'll ever need." He chuckled. "Sweet dreams Eden." He vanished and Eden fell instantly into the grasp of a nightmare.

She shuddered at the thought of the Boogeyman standing in her room. She wasn't afraid of the dark anymore, she was afraid of shadows in the dark though. She was afraid of that toothy grin that shined in the darkness.

She had never met him in person again. But he visited her in her nightmares some nights, often talking to her about how much she was helping him grow stronger and his plan to take down the guardians once and for all.

But Jack had changed that. He had restored her happiness. The real happiness that was hidden in her heart for so long, not the happiness she feigned in order to keep Videre and Daniel from worrying about her.

He had given her the doll in an obvious attempt to make her believe in Santa Clause. He was probably also the one who had given her the dream. Why else would she dream of snow and her new friend? The Sandman didn't know she existed, why would he send her a dream? And just one?

Eden smiled to herself as she sat down on the edge of her bed, sketch pad and pencil in hand as she began to draw her first gift from a guardian. There were already a few pages filled with Jack and the dream he had sent her. Now, as she drew in the spindly curls that ran down the doll's thin and pale face, she remembered what it was like to believe in somebody.

She believed in Jack Frost.

…

Sandy was thoroughly confused. Why would anyone steal a doll from North? On Christmas of all days. Bunny had leaned over to mention Jack's strange behavior as he sat secluded in the outer edge of the circle. It was then that the golden man realized that he wasn't just acting strange today, but ever since this entire dragon predicament began.

He had become awfully fidgety and suddenly uncharacteristically quiet. He had even given into one of Bunny's oh-so-joyous comments earlier that week when usually a full on frosty-boomerang fight would break out. But the young guardian had simply ignored the rabbit as if he hadn't heard him at all.

It was late Christmas evening now and Sandy, along with the other guardians besides Jack, had left the pole to return to their duties.

He knew Jack was worried about the dragon after him, but he didn't act frightened at all, he acted frightened and skittish, secretive almost. Was the winter spirit truly hiding something? He was going to find out.

He remembered giving Jack the sack of dream sand earlier that week when he had come to the clouds to ask about his progress on finding the creature. He hadn't needed to do it before, but he knew how to trace the dreams sent out from his cloud of golden sand. He could see exactly where that dream had been sent.

Hopefully, that would give him answers about why the three-hundred year-old spirit was suddenly acting so strange. Sandy raised his small arms and sent out a tendril of golden sand that weaved in front of him before turning abruptly and darting into the distance.

The guardian morphed his golden cloud into an airplane and took off after it. He was going to find out what had Jack so worried all of a sudden. He was expecting it to follow into Jamie's house when Sandy realized he was in Burgess, but the tendril shot straight over the red house, veering into a window of a tall brown house.

_**A/N: that part was put in especially for**_ _**Nanu Kitty, who left a review that made me laugh out loud ;)**_

_** Please review!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Okay, this chapter is pretty late because finals are coming up soon yaaaaaay… that was sarcastic in case you hadn't noticed.**_

_**Anywho, I had some serious writer's block with this chapter because I keep veering off of my old plans for this story and going onto something better but then falling apart once I realize I have absolutely no clue how to connect my original idea to the last chapter.**_

_**But I think I finally figured it out so I hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

To say that Sandy was confused would have been the understatement of the century. Why would Jack send a specified dream to this house? He was sure it was supposed to go to Jamie, Sophie even, but this house wasn't at all what Sandy had expected the dream sand to flow to when he realized he was in Burgess.

Why on Earth would the winter spirit send a dream specifically to this house, and without telling Sandy? He was quiet, but not oblivious. He knew that Jack wasn't paying attention when he tried to instruct him on how to create and send the dreams to someone, but why here? According to his knowledge, the only ones who could see Jack were Jamie, Sophie, and their friends who had helped in the battle against Pitch. None of them lived here.

Someone important must have lived here if Jack wanted to give them a dream and keep it a secret from Sandy. He began to float towards one of the windows and caught himself. He didn't want to intrude on Jack's secret. The boy trusted him and he did not want to lose that trust. After leaving him for three-hundred years, ignored and alone, he had been the first to actually grow a bond with him, and he didn't want to break that.

But Jack was keeping something from him. This made him anxious. Jack had been acting so strange the past few days, ever since the dragon escapade began and he seemed fairly reluctant during North's Christmas party when the special doll had gone missing.

None of the Yetis could have taken it, why would they? What point would they have in stealing one toy from North's office when they could make items just as valuable? No the Yetis hadn't taken it and the elves… no, not the elves. The only other one at the pole during the time it had gone missing was Jack.

But why?

Sandy bit his golden lip, slowly lowering himself to one of the windows. He couldn't help it. At first, Sandy couldn't see anything but darkness. Maybe there wasn't anyone in there, or, being Christmas, maybe just weren't asleep in their beds yet.

He sighed, slightly relieved that even with giving into the temptation, he hadn't intruded on Jack's secret when a soft groan emanated from inside the dark room. Sandy turned around and looked back through he window, pushing lightly on the pane so that it opened just enough for him to float inside.

The soft glow that emanated off of his body dimly lit the darkened room to show that there was, in fact someone in the room.

A girl with messy red hair was curled up tightly of the dark purple covers, her face contorted into a slight grimace. Sandy stared at the girl as she turned over abruptly in her sleep and groaned again. She clutched the covers to herself tighter. He leapt back slightly in sudden panic. She was having a nightmare.

Of course, children could always have dreams and nightmares on their own, Sandy simply guided the minds to a more blissful slumber. But this girl, he'd never seen before, never sent a dream to her that he could remember. Pitch couldn't be back, it was far too early, he was weak being defeated only a little less than a year ago, she was doing this on her own and it looked bad.

The girl flailed again, sending bright red hair in every direction, causing Sandy to panic. How could he simply sit there while the girl groaned in her sleep as her mind floated into the depths of darkness? He had to do something.

Sandy materialized a ball of golden sand and sprinkled it over her head. The golden flecks caught in her red curls and her flailing and whimpering died down slowly. He smiled in relief as she rolled over and began to breathe deeply.

He turned to leave when something caught his eye. A doll with the same red hair and bright green eyes sat upon the dresser of her room. Sandy smiled to himself. So that's where North's doll had gone to. Jack must've given it to her without knowing just how important it was to the guardian of wonder. He considered grabbing it and taking it back to the pole, but stopped himself short as he realized how special the gift must be for Jack to have gone through all the trouble to get it to her. He was probably trying to gain another believer besides Jamie.

Sure the Bennets were amazing children, but Sandy understood where Jack must be coming from. To go three-hundred years without any believers was a long time to be alone and having one child to him had triggered an affect with the young spirit where he desired more attention, being the teenager he was, he needed it.

North would understand. Sandy nodded contently and looked back at the sleeping girl while a white piece of paper sat precariously at the edge of her bed. The Sandman caught it as it began to flit to the floor with another restless roll from the girl to see an entire army of decorated pages scattered around the base of the bed. A notebook sat open on the floor and loose papers were sprawled across the soft carpeting. It had probably fallen off of the bed in the girl's sleep while she had been tossing and turning. He didn't mean to pry, but as his eyes scanned over the pages as his soft glow fell upon them, he couldn't help gasp silently to himself.

A couple loose papers which littered to the floor were covered in rough sketches while others were colored with oils and pencils, paints and chalk, everything you could think someone could use to create a picture. Sandy had to crane his neck to see them clearly.

They were beautiful. Sketches of people and things that everyone one else seemed to take for granted such as the snow sitting precariously on the branch of a tree or the determined look on a small boy's face that most children made with pursed lips and furrowed eyebrows. He chuckled silently and looked to another picture that had fallen out of the book and his eyes widened in shock.

Jack.

It was a picture of Jack Frost. Sandy picked up the picture carefully. The Jack in the picture held a snowball in one hand and his frosty staff lightly in the other. His arm was arched back as if to throw the intricate snowball at whoever happened to be looking at the page. His ever-present smirk drawn perfectly across his pale face, even his eyebrows were angled perfectly above his light eyes.

So she could see Jack. Was that it? Was that the big secret? Jack had come across a new believer and didn't want to share. Sandy smiled contently after making his discovery and looked back to the girl. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen year's old, young compared to the guardians and most other humans, but old enough for her believing in the guardians to be recognizable and exciting.

The guardians had seen a few teenagers who still held their childhood close to them, but usually it was because they had witnessed seeing one of them. Such as children catching sight of North as he shimmied down their chimneys on Christmas Eve, or finding a small and colorful mini-fairy underneath their pillow, but Sandy didn't recognize this girl and none of the other guardians ever mentioned finding another avid believer.

Sandy set the paper back down and began to organize the mess on the floor for the girl when she woke up when another loose paper fell out of the book when he picked it up. He rolled his golden eyes in annoyance and reached down only to pause and drop the booklet completely, scattering all of the papers that had once been tucked safely inside.

A light turned on suddenly as the girl sat up quickly in her bed, her hand almost yanking the bedside lamp off of the small round and cluttered table it sat on. Her green eyes widened at the sight of Sandy as the golden man leapt back in surprise. The page was still tightly clutched in his hand and he began to slowly back away, hoping that she couldn't see him even though her eyes were locked on him.

She looked fairly confused as she looked around her room as if to make sure she was, in fact, awake. When her gaze returned to him, her breathing had picked up pace and her face was even paler than it had been before. Her eyes scanned him briefly as the guardian of dreams couldn't seem to get himself to move and her eyes paused as they passed over the page in his golden hand.

"Oh no." She murmured, which had only confirmed Sandy's suspicions. Finally gaining his ability to move his limbs and slowly float towards the window. Unfortunately, she saw his attempt to escape and shot out of the bed, yanking herself from the cocoon of purple cotton that had been clinging to her.

Sandy shot up and saw this as his last opportunity to flee out the open window. "Wait!" The girl called after him, but Sandy darted forward and back to his cloud of sand before taking off like a missile to the North Pole, the picture of a dark and horrifying dragon flitting in the wind.

It wasn't the fact that the picture was a dragon, that part wasn't all that strange, many children embraced the thoughts of magical creatures, good and evil, making them look as their imagination allowed them to become.

No, this picture was different, not born of imagination or creativity, but experience. This dragon looked exactly like the dragon that had leapt from the fireplace at the pole and was prophesized to destroy their newest addition to the family of guardians.

No wonder he hadn't recognized the girl, the guardians didn't keep tabs on non-human children. His breath caught in his throat as another thought occurred to Sandy as he flew as fast as his powers would allow him to the pole. She had already seen Jack. She knew about him already and somehow had come into contact with him at some point. How else would she have acquired the doll?

Jack had been fidgety lately, but perhaps he wasn't just nervous or stir crazy as the guardians had all pushed it off to be. Perhaps he was being controlled somehow. Sandy didn't know much about dragons, they were supposed to be extinct for goodness sake! But he was going to find out what exactly was happening to Jack and he was not going to let anything happen to the young winter spirit. Not EVER.

_**I know this chapter was a bit shorter than most of my oter chapters, but PLEASE review and add your own ideas about future chapters, I might just add them to my story.**_

_**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**YAAAAAAY!**_

_**I really like how this chapter turned out, I hope you like it!**_

It was Jack's last day in prison. It felt like far longer than a week for the winter spirit even thought he did cheat quite a bit by being allowed out for two days of the week and sneaking out the first day. But the sudden attention and restriction made him stir crazy all over again as his only source of entertainment now as he sat alone in the globe room was tapping random elves that walked by with his staff and freezing them on the spot.

A couple Yeti's eyes him warily from below in the workshop but left him alone for the most part. They were back to work for next year's Christmas presents and the furry giants seemed more excited to be working than eve before.

True they liked their days off, but they spent all year, every day, all day making and testing the toys that when they were given a day to themselves, they didn't know what on Earth they were supposed to do.

Jack chuckled as he tapped another elf on the head while it was trying to run out of the way only to stop in his tracks and spin due to the lack of traction on his feet and clattered to the ground. The creature squeaked in protest as it tried desperately to move.

Three other elves were scattered around jack's seat, some of them half melted and struggling to thaw out their arms or legs and rolling away from the winter spirit and his evil stick of ice.

Jack rested his chin on his pale hand and stared out blankly into the workshop. He was pretty much just waiting for the day to be over so he could fly back to Burgess. He shuddered at the thought of what happened last night. North had discovered that his doll was missing.

He didn't think it was so important that it would be noticed quite so easily that it was taken, but it was the only thing Jack could think of to give Eden, the only thing that actually seemed as if it was meant for her. Why would North make something that resembled his new friend so well anyway? It just didn't add up.

A golden flash in the corner of his eye caught the bored winter spirit's attention and he lit up instantly. "Sandy!" He called, floating up from his seat and over to the small man hovering above the ground.

Sandman turned quickly as if he had been startled and gasped silently after realizing who was standing behind him. He gave Jack a small and unconvincing smile, carefully puching one of his hands behind his back as if to hide something.

"What brings you to the pole?" Jack asked.

Sandy shrugged uncomfortably and began subtly creeping backwards to where North was in his office, searching under desks no doubt looking for the doll.

Jack took notice of the man's sudden fidgetiness. Was he this obvious when he was nervous? No wonder the other guardians had been so worried about him lately, if he lied as badly as the Sandman, he wasn't hiding his worry quite as well as he thought he had been.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. Sandy shook his head and smiled again, hoping this one looked real enough. It didn't.

Jack raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, allowing his staff to rest in the crook of his right elbow. A sudden jolt of worry filled his thoughts. "Is it about the dragon?" He asked. He silently hoped that it wasn't, what if the guardians had finally found a way to track down Eden?

Sandy bit his golden lip nervously and floated back again, hoping to escape the troubled teen while lost in his thoughts. He turned slightly, eyeing the door at the other end of the long corridor and thinking to himself that he could use this chance to dart down the hall and into the office where he could show North the picture he had found.

Jack looked up while Sandy stared down the corridor cautiously, planning his escape route. Jack wasn't sure why the man was suddenly so jittery, he had never been this uncomfortable around the winter spirit before. Why now?

He eyes the guardian of dreams warily before a splash of white caught his eye behind Sandy. His eyes widened in shock and he quickly dashed over to the golden man, slipping the paper from his hands while he was distracted.

Sandy turned around alarmed and stared at jack in horror as the young spitit unfolded the paper. He tried grabbing it back but Jack was too fast for him and the boy flew up into the rafters where he finished unfolding the parchment. By the time Sandy caught up to him, it was too late.

Jack stared at the picture of the dark dragon. The same picture that Eden had shown him the day they had properly met. His finders traced the black outline with shaky hands as the dark eyes penetrated into his core. How did Sandy get this picture?

Jack looked up to see the small golden mal twiddling his thumbs nervously with his head bent low and eyes shifting to anything but the confused winter spirit. "Sandy, where did you get this?" He finally asked.

The Sandman looked up with a determined look and glared at him, taking the paper back and materializing a question mark above his head while pointing at the dragon on the page.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "It's a dragon." He answered flatly, knowing full well that that wasn't what Sandy was asking.

Sandy's brows furrowed and he pointed to the picture again while allowing a picture of a golden Jack sitting in the mix of dream sand as it swirled around him and leapt to the paper, clearly showing that Sandy knew where the dream Jack sent out had gone to.

"Why would I send a dream to a dragon?" Jack scoffed, trying to grab the paper back.

Sandy held it out of the boy's reach and materialized another picture of a girl with curly hair, it was Eden.

Jack fidgeted a bit and tightened his grip on the staff before looking back at Sandy who looked more annoyed than angry. "It's Jamie's babysitter. When I went to see Jamie a few days ago I saw her and overheard her talking about a dream she wanted." He lied through his tightly clenched teeth, he still couldn't lie very well.

Sandy was unimpressed and raised a golden eyebrow before materializing a picture of a doll, no, the doll in a box and being given to the girl. Oh no.

"Yes, I gave her the doll too, she said she had never gotten a present from North before and I couldn't find anything else to give her." He said, finally telling the truth and letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Sandy's expression softened before another image appeared above his wispy hair. A skull and crossbones. Danger.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. Did Sandy already know? So soon? "No, Sandy she's not dangerous." He began but Sandy began manifesting shapes above his head again. It was Eden and then 'poof!' the dragon from the picture was flying around and roaring silently into the air before exploding into golden dust.

Jack took a deep breath. Either he told Sandy the truth, or Eden got hurt, there was really no choice to be made at this point, Sandy knew that Eden was a dragon. He looked up at Sandy and sighed. "Her name's Eden." He stated flatly.

Sandy nodded as if egging him on to continue.

"She is a dragon. I may or may not have snuck out the night I found out about the dragon coming after me, trying to get to it and prove that I wasn't helpless." He started. Sandy cocked his head and frowned. They had been treating Jack much differently since they had received the message from Manny.

"I found her in her human form and took off back here which is when you guys said I had to stay here or your guys' place, but North let me visit Jamie and he went to a party at her house and we actually talked."

Sandy's eyes opened wide.

"She's not evil Sandy. She's just… lonely."

Sandy raised an eyebrow.

"She's never been visited by any of the guardians Sandy. She talked like having nightmares every night was a perfectly normal occurrence, never getting gifts from North, her teeth still under her pillow when she wakes up, no Easter eggs hidden in her back yard when she woke up. Nothing! I had to do something to help her believe again, so I gave her that dream and the doll in North's office. I didn't know he would notice so easily, I didn't know how important it was to him. But I had to do something, I know how it feels to be ignored and I don't want it to happen to her." Jack finished.

Sandy couldn't help but look down at his tiny feet in guilt. He had allowed this girl to have nightmares every night. But she was a dragon! If she wasn't the one trying to destroy Jack, then who was?

Jack must have known what he was thinking because he continued. "She showed me this picture the day before Christmas Eve, It's the dragon that's trying to kill her, the only other one known in existence. If there really is a dragon after me, that's her and I'm not the only one in danger."

Sandy looked back up to Jack, not sure if he should believe the young winter spirit, but Jack's eyes held nothing but truth and he wasn't fidgeting anymore like he usually did when he was lying so he wasn't being forced to do this under anyone's blackmail or control.

"I need your help Sandy, you can't tell anyone about this."

Sandy let a question mark pop up above his head. Surely after hearing Jack's story they would understand.

"The more people who know the more danger she could be put in. After today I can actually go to Burgess freely, but until then I have to stay here and wait, hoping that nothing happens."

Sandy smiled understandingly and nodded before realizing just how much he must've scared the poor girl earlier that night. He patted Jack's head and made and 'x' over his sandy heart to show that he wasn't planning on telling anyone. Jack smiled. "Thanks Sandy."

The golden man merely nodded before taking off back to Burgess, trying desperately to find the brown house he had seen before. He had to apologize to the girl before she became too worried that someone was after her.

…

That is exactly what Eden was doing when Sandy arrived at her window for the second time that night. Worrying. Her lights were turned on and she had instantly picked up the phone to call Daniel, who wasn't happy at all being woken up in the middle of the night, but knowing his friend wouldn't sleep until she knew she was safe, he trudged across the street to her house in his plaid pajama pants and oversized grey t-shirt.

Eden sat across from Daniel on her bed that was now nothing that resembled an actual bed, but maybe a nest. She didn't care about the bed or the fact that her room was covered in snow white papers again, she cared that someone had just flown into her window in the middle of the night and stole one of her pictures, not just any picture either, but the picture of the dragon trying to kill her in every one of her dreams she had anymore.

"What if he's works for her, or is one of the guardians who wants me dead?" She began blabbering again just like she had been for the past hour or so while Daniel tried not to fall asleep.

"Who, you?" He yawned.

Eden scowled at him. "Yes me." She said. She was pacing the room now.

A small smile spread across Daniel's lips. "Couldn't be." He turned to look at Eden who was ignoring him once again. "That's when you say 'then who took the cookie from the GAH!" He practically screamed as he toppled off the bed.

Eden stared at his gracefulness and cocked an eyebrow. "I don't think that's how the song goes Daniel." She said. Her gaze hardened as she saw Daniel's face. His eyes were wide and he held a pointed finger towards her window.

She tilted her head before following her friend's gaze and gasped. Floating at her window was the same golden man who had come earlier that night and had taken off with one of her drawings. "Oh." Was all she could muster as the small man floated into her room.

Eden stumbled back, tripping over Daniel in the process and earning a shout of protest from the boy as she collapsed atop him.

The golden man smiled sheepishly before waving at the two teens. This was going to be a long night.

_**ALL DONE YAAAAY!**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW and I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Here we go! Next chapter.**_

_**It's a bit slow, but I hope you guys like it all the same!**_

Sandy had finally found the house. The lights were on, making him feel a bit unnerved at the fact that she hadn't fallen back asleep since the incident and was probably worried sick over what might happen next. He slowly floated over to the lit room and peered in to see the girl pacing her room.

He couldn't make out what she was saying mainly because she was mumbling to herself, but he was caught off guard when he saw another person in the room. He recognized the black haired teenager who sat atop the wrinkled purple blankets of the messy bed.

His name was Daniel Lewis and used to dream of being a famous basketball player. Sandy smiled fondly at the memories. Once a child became older and grew out of their need for magic, they were able to control their dreams on their own without guardian help.

The boy looked as if he were about to fall over and into a deep sleep. His dark hair hung low over his brown sleepy eyes as he tried half-heartedly to stay awake. He was the exact opposite of the dragon-girl pacing the room uncontrollably.

Her feet shuffled through tossed papers as she mumbled to herself, wide green eyes darting around the room and red curls flipping every time she turned. "What if he works for her, or is one of the guardians who wants me dead?" Was the first thing he could audibly hear.

Sandy frowned in guilt as his stomach clenched up again, she was talking about him. She was afraid of him.

Daniel looked up at her and smiled to himself. "Who you?" He asked sarcastically.

Red hair bounced and Eden's eyes locked on Daniel's. "Yes me." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Sandy couldn't help but silently chuckle to himself as a mischievous grin stretched across the boy's face. "Couldn't be." He paused, looking at his friend as if waiting for her to say something. He frowned. "That's when you say 'then who took the cookie from the Gah!" Sandy's head snapped up to see Daniel staring directly at him.

The boy reeled back only to fall of the bed entirely. He had seen him. The dragon-girl looked at the fallen boy skeptically, one eyebrow raised above the other. "I don't think that's how the song goes Daniel." She said pointedly, finally showing the smallest hint of a smile.

Daniel said nothing, merely raising a shaky finger to point at the window. The girl's green eyes followed to where the boy was pointing and her face dropped instantly. "Oh."

Sandy took a deep breath, it wasn't exactly how he had planned on introducing himself, but then again, he didn't really have a plan at all. He pressed a small golden hand to the glass of the window and pushed it open before cautiously floating into the room.

Eden stumbled back, tripping over the boy in the process, receiving an irritated grunt as she landed on top of him.

Sandy didn't know exactly how to react to this kind of attention and simply raised his hand to wave sheepishly. To his surprise, the dragon girl waved back. Lifting a tentative hand and wriggling her fingers aimlessly to the tiny golden man floating in her bedroom. Her stare was blank and slightly confused.

"Ow!"

The girl snapped out of her daze and launched herself off of her friend, grabbing his outstretched hands to pull him up into a standing position. "Sorry Daniel, are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

The boy shook his head, shaking out the sleepiness from his face and tussling his dark hair out from in front of his eyes. "I think you shattered my spleen." He croaked.

The girl smiled slightly before turning back to Sandy with a wary expression. The golden man sighed. What now? Then he remembered the picture he had taken earlier that night and an exclamation point appeared above his head.

Eden gasped in wonder as the sand exclamation point dissipated into thin air, falling down and showering the Sandman's hair in the golden dust. A smile of awe slowly allowed itself to spread slyly across her face, curling one side of her mouth up before the other and making her eyes crinkle slightly at the edges.

Sandy couldn't help but smile too when he saw this. Her eyes were filled with child-like creativity as they shined with wonder. Her eyes caught sight of the small man's hand and the smile disappeared, one eyebrow shooting up above the other and her head cocking to one side.

Sandy held the folded paper out at arm's length (which wasn't actually that far) and smiled shyly. He really did feel bad about earlier that night and after Jack having explained the predicament, he felt even worse now that the girl stood in front the guardian of dreams himself, afraid of him.

Her eyes bulged when she saw the page and looked at Sandy conflicted. The small man flitted the paper slightly, gesturing for her to take it. She reached out a tentative hand out towards the picture and grabbed it from him, unfolding it carefully while eyeing Sandy cautiously out of the corner of her eye.

"What is it?" Daniel spoke up, walking over next to his friend and peering over her shoulder at the picture. His nose crinkled up as his look of curiosity quickly changed to a look of disgust, as if the paper gave him a bad taste in his mouth. "Ew, it looks just like you." He said, stifling a smile that threatened to cross his pursed lips.

Eden's brows furrowed and her mouth pushed out into a slight pout before turning to face her friend. Daniel stumbled back slightly and laughed. "Kidding kidding, you don't look anything like that… your teeth are smaller. OW!" He half laughed as Eden punched him in the shoulder.

Sandy giggled silently at the sight of the two friends. They were obviously very close and the boy somehow knew that she was a dragon already.

"Thanks." The girl said, turning back to the golden man floating in front of her.

Sandy held out his small hand out to the girl, hoping she knew what he was attempting to do. She stared at it confusedly for a moment before realization struck her and she quickly offered her right hand out to shake his, the paper flitting to the ground, quickly forgotten by the two. "I'm Eden." She said.

Sandy nodded and tried to explain to her what his name was, materializing a dream cloud above him, he didn't expect her to guess right away, but her eyes widened and a smile of understanding appeared on her pale lips. "You're the Sandman." She stated.

Daniel, having been used to strange supernatural things happening around his friend, sat of the purple mess that used to be a bed and stared at the two whilst rummaging through a few stray papers sprawled across the sheets.

Sandy nodded. How had she guessed so quickly?

She must've known what he was thinking because she continued to explain. "I saw you before when I was younger spreading dreams in one of those clouds." She said, pointing a finger at the sparkling sand cloud floating above his head.

Sandy's stomach dropped slightly. He materialized a small part of Burgess with houses filled with sleeping children and one with a curly haired girl sitting sadly in the window. He hoped she knew it was her. Another picture appeared above the houses, a golden and smaller version of the Sandman as coil of sand floated to every house except for the little girl's. The image disappeared and Sandy frowned pointedly.

"Wow, you must be really good at charades." Daniel noted, half ignored by the others.

Eden shook her head. "It's fine, it's been like that my whole life, it doesn't really bother me that much." She said. "None of the guardians really pay that much attention to me." She smiled.

Daniel's head snapped up. "Wait you knew it was Videre and I the whole time?" He asked accusingly.

Eden flinched slightly and shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings." She said.

Daniel frowned. "Dude! Do you know how proud I was when Vid let me take one of your teeth and I actually got it out from under your pillow and replaced it with a quarter without waking you up?" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air dramatically.

"Sorry?" She offered.

"Fun ruiner." He said, pointing to her dejectedly.

Eden merely rolled her eyes, turning back to Sandy. "Anyway, in all honesty, there's no need for apologies, I really don't mind." She said, only making the man feel guiltier, it was so bad that she thought it was normal to be ignored by the guardians for an entire lifetime.

Sandy smiled shyly and decided to change the subject, picking up a picture that he had noticed earlier when he had first arrived at the bedroom. A picture of Jack holding a snowball. A question mark appeared above his head and Eden grinned.

"You know him?" She asked.

Sandy nodded, an intricately designed 'G' appearing above his head, the guardian symbol. Eden stared at it confusedly for a moment before grasping the idea and nodding.

"Yeah, I met Jack a while ago." She explained.

"Yeah, scared the heck out of you too." Daniel put in.

Eden scowled at the boy. "Did not, I was startled, not scared." She corrected.

"Whatever."

Sandy smiled as the two continued to bicker, it was like Jack and Bunny but with less fur and frozen elves scattering the room.

Sandy waved his arms above his head, trying to retrieve their attention. Eden looked up and nodded shyly, gesturing that she was taking notice of the little man once again. He floated over to the dresser sitting in the corner of the small room and gestured to the intricate doll sitting on top of the dark wood.

Eden nodded again. "Jack gave that to me for Christmas." She said.

Sandy frowned slightly. The resemblance was almost striking. The smile, the hair, the eyes, it all looked like her, but why on Earth would North make a doll that looked just like a dragon-girl who they had been ignoring for so long?

Eden looked at him warily. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

Sandy shifted awkwardly and tried to materialize a picture of North searching or the doll, but couldn't seem to find the right images. The girl probably had no idea what North looked like to begin with. Images of a large man scouring his workshop filled the empty space above his wispy hair.

"Um…" She started, trying to guess what the message was trying to show. "Something fell?" She started. Sandy shook his head and gestured for her to keep guessing.

"Timmy fell down the well?" Daniel stated, receiving annoyed looks from the other two.

"Something's… lost?" She tried. Sandy nodded enthusiastically, pointing to the doll on the shelf and then back at the man searching for the imaginary object. "The doll's missing?" Sandy nodded again and this time pointed a golden hand to the picture of Jack Frost. "Jack took the doll." She said sadly.

Sandy gave her a thumbs up. "Does that mean I have to give it back?" She asked, a disappointed look crossing over her pale complexion. Sandy shook his head and her expression brightened instantly. "But what about him?" She asked, pointing at the message that kept replaying over the Sandman's head.

Sandy shook his head, allowing the image to dissipate into thin air, replacing it with a gift box wrapped with a large bow and then gesturing back to her.

"Hooray!" Daniel said sarcastically. "You get your own little 'mini-me.'" He said, receiving an eye roll from Eden. He shrugged as if to ask why she would question it in the first place. "Seriously, that thing is like Coraline. Eden, if you see a mouse, don't follow it!" He warned.

"Alright, I guess we're not going to be watching any horror movies anytime soon are we?" She giggled.

"Don't act like it's not scary E, it is." Sandy chuckled to himself at the two before floating back to the window unnoticed, slipping out and heading back to the Pole to meet Jack before his last day was over and he left.

_**Yay!**_

_**Please review!**_

_**Oh, and I don't own ROTG or Coraline.**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Sorry this Chapter is a bit short, I have finals starting tomorrow so the next update probably won't be until Friday. **___

_**Enjoy!**_

"Ha! Yes! I'm Free!" Jack shouted, pointing at the large clock in the kitchen that he had been staring at nonstop for the past two hours. None of the Yetis seemed to take notice but they all smiled to themselves in relief as they had also been counting down the moments secretly for the winter spirit to leave.

He hadn't been much of a nuisance as long as you ignored the fact that half of North's workshop was now an ice rink and the walls were decorated in frozen elves that had been thrown at the wood as darts, their tiny bodies protruding from the walls while they wriggled to get themselves free of their incredibly pointy hats. But to the Yetis' surprise, they were actually able to deliver the gifts on time without any trouble as they were afraid for in the beginning.

The spirit of winter had tried breaking into the workshop for three-hundred years after his rebirth. Luckily, Phil had always caught him before he could get both legs through a window, but now that he was allowed to roam the place freely with no restrictions whilst the Yeti's tried to ready the last of the Christmas presents, they couldn't help but be worried that he would play another one of his reckless pranks on at least one of them.

Honestly, the Yetis didn't know what exactly the bearded guardian was thinking when he had offered for Jack to stay at the pole whether than one of the other guardian's homes. Of course, Tooth's palace would be too hot for a frost spirit, Sandy moved about too much and too fast to ever stay anywhere with him for more than a minute or two, and Bunny… well actually, now that that scenario was pulled into view, the North Pole was really the only place to keep the guardian of fun seeing as though it was the only place that wouldn't involve him accidentally killing someone.

But he left the Yetis alone while they did their jobs, mostly floating about and watching them as they painted toys and some of them had even allowed the curious boy to test a few, knowing how restless he was becoming after the guardians had restricted him to the North Pole. While the Yeti's were off duty… that was a different story. Some of the beasts were still trying to dislodge a few ice shards from their fur while others had been lucky enough to only have sore backsides from constantly slipping on Jack's personal skating arena.

Jack whooped with glee and tore down the hallway, slamming the kitchen door as he left, leaving the furry beasts in utter silence. The furry beasts all stared at the door in shock as if this moment might never come. "BABAYOO!" One of them cried, breaking the silence with a loud cheer before the others joined in, smiling at each other and high-fiving, garbling in their secret language happily.

North pushed one of the doors open aimlessly, the new naughty and nice list in one hand, vowing that he wouldn't procrastinate this year and finish it before Christmas Eve… it had been a resolution he had promised himself to keep for the past four-hundred and fifty years straight now and it never made it past the day after Christmas. A large half-eaten cookie was held in the other large hand as he took another unconscious bite of the sweet morsel

Upon hearing the gleeful shouts of his workers, the guardian of wonder looked up from his papers in confusion before seeing one of them rolling out a celebratory cake as the others cheered. "Hmm." He thought to himself. "Jack must be gone already… hey! Save piece for me!"

…

Jack smiled wildly. He could tell the Yetis and even North were just about fed up with his stir crazy antics just as much as he was being cooped up for a week… well, almost a week, still far too long for the free willed winter spirit though. He laughed when he heard them shouting with glee as soon as the large doors to the kitchen shut behind him and beamed brightly when North shouted for them to save him some celebratory 'no Jack' cake. Hey, it was better than being ignored in his eyes. And right now, he couldn't care less what the other guardians thought of him, he was free!

He had taken off through one of the open windows and had allowed the wind to carry him high into the cold wintery air. The wind embraced his ecstatically, rushing around the lost winter child and tossing him about in its cool grip. Jack laughed as he let himself be thrown around at the wind's own mercy, twisting and diving in the open air while snowflakes fell around him and swirling along with the strong breeze.

Jack thrust his staff in front of him and shot out a bright ice blast at the already white and frozen ground. A golden glow in his peripheral vision caught his eye and he had to try to fight against the excited wind in order to stop himself long enough to identify the small golden man floating back to the pole on his own cloud of dream sand.

"Sandy!" He called, waving his arms over his head to get the Sandman's attention. Sandy paused, looking around confusedly before spotting the young guardian and racing to his side, an excited expression blossoming on his smiling face. "I'm free!" He practically cried. "My week is over." Sandy flashed him a golden smile and held up a two thumbs up in encouragement.

"Hmm, I was going to go to Burgess to celebrate but unfortunately it's still late there huh?" He started, not talking directly to the Sandman but more to himself as he tried to figure out what exactly he was to do now that he was free from that joyful and jolly prison of color but still had time to spare before he could see Eden again.

An exclamation point appeared above Sandy's head, shaking Jack out of his thoughts. He looked at the guardian of dreams with deep blue eyes remembering suddenly all that had happened the last time he had seen Sandy. The small man had actually seen Eden and found out that she was a dragon. He hoped longingly that Sandy had believed him when he said that she wasn't evil, but still, his heart began to beat furiously as the thought of his taking this problem to the other guardians.

A picture of the curly haired girl in question appeared above the man's sparkling tussled hair and Jack raised an eyebrow. "You went back to Eden's?" He asked, trying not to freak out about the fact that one of the guardians, one of the people he had been trying to keep away from Eden, had now seen her twice in one day.

The guardian nodded, his large smile brightening, only confusing Jack more. Sandy's face dropped into a rather annoyed look. It didn't usually bother him that he couldn't speak, he rather liked it actually. It made him an individual that way. He was the oldest of all the guardians, besides the Man in the Moon that is, but he had been given the power over dreams and calm peaceful silence. He didn't need to speak to communicate with the other guardians who had become accustomed to the little man's ways of explaining things.

However, when it came to trying to get information through Jack, a fast paced spirit who needed the constant distraction of speaking to gain his attention, Sandy often found it rather difficult to explain anything to the boy. Even the dragon-girl had been able to figure out his messages quicker that Jack.

Therefore, explaining this story to the boy… was going to take a while.

…

"Good morning." Eden called eagerly, bounding down the stairs and sitting down in one of the swiveling bar stools at the kitchen counter while her adoptive mother stood on the other side, piling a plate high with breakfast fresh off the stove. She didn't usually make breakfast, but subduing the children to a breakfast of cold cereal the day after Christmas almost seemed cruel.

"Good morning Eden… and Daniel." Videre greeted, raising an eyebrow at the tired looking boy who merely grumbled in response, taking the stool next to his friend. "Is everything okay?" She asked, knowing that her daughter usually only dared to wake up the boy in the midst of sleeping when something important had come up.

"I think so, still trying to decide whether or not last night was a dream or not." He replied, picking a piece of bacon absentmindedly off of Eden's plate. The girl rolled her eyes and pushed the entire plate of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and eggs his way.

"Everything's fine." She assured her mother as Videre set a second plate in front of her to replace the one Daniel had taken as his own.

Videre opened her mouth to say something else but just shook her head and decided against it. There was no reasoning with those two, Eden was like a stone wall when it came to secrets she didn't want to share, she stood strong and was determined not to allow anyone but a few specific people to pass the boundaries. Daniel on the other hand was an open book, unfortunately he was also an empty book. He was included in on most of Eden's secrets and once he knew something was up, clamped shut like a clam.

"Well I'm off to the office for a couple hours, Daniel, don't break anything." She said playfully.

Daniel dropped his fork and stared at her angrily. "Sure, knock the fridge over _one time_, and you just can't let it go!"

Eden shook her head. "I still don't know how on Earth you managed to do that in the first place." She said.

"Never underestimate me Eden, I'm like a ninja. Master of impossible tasks such as ruining kitchens and seeing creepers through windows." He finished. Eden raised an eyebrow at the last part only for Daniel to point discretely at the kitchen window.

"Jack!"

_**Please Review!**_

_**Give me strength to do well on my Chemistry final!**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**I know this chapter is really late! Thank you all who wished me luck on my finals. All A's and B's! Anywho, on with the story!**_

"Oi! What the- North!" Bunny shouted down the long corridor as excited elves raced through the hallways, each of them with a large cookie in their hands and chocolate covered faces. The Pooka had come bearing news about the dragon that had been trying to destroy their youngest guardian and to say he was startled by the sudden bombarding of pointy hated, cookie eating elves, was an understatement.

It was enough to have the mountainous furry Yetis running around the place, stomping on whoever's large furry paws that happened to be sticking out, but the guardian of wonder's excitable minions terrified the living daylights out of him, especially when sugar was within their grasp. Last time the elves had come across sugar had been when they somehow stole some of his chocolate eggs, it took him weeks to get all of the melted chocolate and sparkles out of his fur.

Bunnymund carefully edged his way to the wall in order to get to the source of the endless stream of elves. "North!" He cried, pushing the door to the large kitchen open only to stare at the large bearded man in the center of the room at a complete loss for words. Yetis were practically dancing about the room with glee for some reason Bunny couldn't seem to find.

North turned around, flashing a large grin at the large rabbit standing at the doorway. "Bunny! Come get cake, is chocolate!" He bellowed.

Realization finally dawned on the Pooka and he chuckled slightly at the thought of it as he bounded over to join his friend by the large half eaten chocolate cake. "Snowflake's finally left ey?" He asked, reaching out tentatively for a piece of cake before realizing that there were more tiny elf hand prints in the frosting than he was willing to risk his immortal health for.

North laughed and placed a large hand on Bunny's shoulder. "Jack is a good boy, but he becomes bored fairly easily." He explained, his face dropping into a completely serious expression at the last part.

"I'll say." Bunny agreed, rolling his eyes at the memory of the frost spirit in his warren only days before. "Listen Mate, I need to talk to you about something." He said, grabbing North's shoulder and tugging him away from the celebrating Yetis, shouting in protest as more than one of them landed hard on his sensitive Pooka feet.

North turned to the guardian of hope with a confused expression. "Bunny, is something wrong?" He asked the large rabbit, seeing the worried look in his face as he looked over his furry shoulders, ears twitching from side-to-side as if someone were following him.

Finally, the Pooka turned toward him with a serious expression. "It is about Jack?" The bearded man guessed, only to receive a confirming nod from the Easter Bunny. North frowned at this, leaning forward, listening intently to what the large rabbit might say next.

"I think the dragon can disguise itself." He said in a hushed whisper, receiving only a skeptical eyebrow raised above North's deep blue eyes.

"Disguise into…" The old man said, waving his hand in a circular motion, trying to get Bunny to continue.

Bunny stared at him with an incredulous glare. "A hippopotamus!" He shouted sarcastically.

North pursed his lips. "That would explain the…"

Bunny raised a furry paw to stop the man, rubbing his temples with the other. "A human Mate, a HUMAN!"

North paused, nodding in understanding. "Oh, how do you know this?" He asked.

"Have you ever seen a dragon before?" He asked.

North pondered on this for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

"Neither has any other guardian, we all travel the world, we've seen every inch of this bloody planet and none of us have seen a single giant reptile, either its better at hiding in the bushes than any of us or any humans for that matter have noticed, or its able to change its appearance." Bunny pointed out.

"Oh, this is bad." The older guardian murmured to himself, running his large hands through his white beard. "We should tell the others." He said, looking up at the Pooka, who nodded in agreement. "Good! I'll get Sandy and Tooth." He finished, before Bunny could say anything else.

The rabbit's ears flopped back in fear. "Why am I on Snowflake duty?" He asked.

"Because Jack stayed at Pole for entire week, it is your turn." North explained, folding his tattooed arms across his chest.

"_Almost _an entire week." The Pooka said, making North freeze and turn around to face the bunny. "Sandy told me ya let Frostbite out twice." He said smugly, wiggling two furry fingers in the air to emphasize his point.

North just turned around, tromping down the steps. "You're still on Jack duty!" He Bellowed.

"I know." The rabbit huffed, thumping his large foot twice on the tiled ground and opening a tunnel. "Let's get this over with."

He leapt down the tunnel, unknowing of where exactly it would lead him, but awaiting the cold that would certainly be awaiting him. His tunnels were able to track the guardians, thank Manny, because there was absolutely no way the Pooka would be able to catch him any other way. The Spirit was about as restless as Tooth sitting in a room full of un hygienic children, never able to stay in one place for more than a few minutes.

He finally stumbled out of his tunnels, bracing himself for the icy conditions of Antarctica only to find that he was in Burgess, still cold, but not freezing. Of course, Jack would visit Jamie the moment he was released from the Guardian's close watch.

But the tunnel hadn't spit him out at Jamie's house, it had thrown the confused Pooka out behind a large brown house. Bunny stared up at the house. Why would Jack be here? He merely shrugged it off, he didn't really want to be caught up in Jack's turmoil than he already was.

Scanning the scene, he saw no sign of the winter spirit and was about to hop away to inspect the Bennet's house when he heard a voice from behind him. "Jack!"

…

"Jack!" The redhead shouted enthusiastically upon seeing the boy floating happily outside the window. Daniel merely smiled and rolled his eyes, shoveling another pile of pancakes into his mouth. Eden ran over to the window and pushed the glass panes open so that the frost spirit could float through into the house.

He smiled at her and climbed through hesitantly. "Hi." He said, beaming brightly.

"Hey." She replied, shutting the window as soon as the Guardian of fun was inside, shivering slightly as the outside cold bit at her bare arms, she just now realized just how stupid it had been to wear a tank top to bed in the middle of the winter.

She turned around to face the floating guest, smiling brightly upon seeing the returned winter spirit. An awkward silence hung about the room as though nobody knew exactly how to start, well. The only sound that could be heard was the soft breeze outside as it shook snow out off of tree branches and the constant chewing of Daniel as he had moved on to pick off the bacon off of Eden's plate and placing them on his own.

"What are you doing here?" Eden asked. "Not that I'm not happy to see you." She caught herself.

"Oh, right!" Jack practically shouted, suddenly remembering why he had come to the house in the first place. "I'm off parole." He finished, tilting his head up and his hands proudly on his hips as if he were a superhero. Eden raised an eyebrow and looked at Daniel who merely shrugged.

"Hooray?" She offered.

Jack's smile faded to a giddy grin as if he was trying to hold back a secret that was threatening to burst out. "So… how was your Christmas?" He asked casually.

Eden's smile brightened instantly. "Wonderful, I love the doll so much, thank you." She said, clasping her hands together excitedly only for her smile to falter as Jack's disappeared entirely, transforming into a discouraged and slightly confused scowl.

"What do you mean? Nor- I mean Santa delivers the toys to the children, not me." He said quickly, pausing when he saw Eden's eyebrow raised skeptically above her green eyes. "How did you know it was me?" He asked grouchily.

"Santa doesn't visit my house, remember?" She said.

"Yeah, that, and I don't think that jolly old St. Nick would leave an ash print that scrawny, let alone fall out of a chimney in the first place." Daniel put in, pointing his fork over at the imprint of a small human body pressed into the white carpeting which they still hadn't tried getting out since Christmas day.

Jack frowned and turned back to the teenage boy still going at his second helping off of his friend's plate. "I'm not scrawny!" Jack retorted, floating up to him, poking Daniel in the shoulder with his staff. "And I didn't fall out of the chimney… I stumbled."

"Sure, you stumbled… and _then_ fell flat on your face, right?" The dark haired teen chuckled, brushing the staff off of his shoulder.

Eden rolled her eyes. "So, what brings you to Burgess anyhow? Did you see Jamie? " She asked.

Jack, who was still glaring angrily at Daniel, softened his facial expression and turned to her. "I wanted to see you actually." He said.

Eden smiled, opening her mouth to say something when something practically crashed through the window, making her scream and duck behind Jack, who held his staff in front of him defensively. She peered around The floating winter spirit to see exactly what had leapt through her window and was now standing tall in the living room entrance, glaring at her before its stare flickered to Jack.

It was a rabbit. Or at least, she thought it was a rabbit. The thing was huge, at least six feet tall. It stood defensively on its hind legs, ears pressed back angrily and two wooden boomerangs gripped tightly in each front paw.

"Jack, get out of here!" It shouted, making the frost boy flinch. The rabbit's glare returned to Eden. "Your leave him alone!" He shouted, raising one of his boomerangs as if to throw it. Eden ducked back behind Jack only to realize that Jack wasn't in front of her anymore.

"Bunny no!" The spirit cried, diving at the rabbit's large furry paw and grabbing its arm before he could release it toward her. The rabbit stopped short, staring at the young guardian in shock before tearing his arm away from jack's grip.

"Jack, ya don't know what you're doin! That thing! It's the-" Eden flinched at the word 'thing.' Before Jack floated back in front of her and grabbed her wrist, catching her attention. What was he doing?

"Dragon, I know." He finished, determinedly. He sighed slightly before looking back at the terrified redhead nervously, an apologetic look lining his pale face. "Bunny, Eden. Eden… this is the Easter Bunny."

The room was silent as they all let realization seep in. Daniel cleared his throat. "You know, this only happens at your house." He said.

_**Cliff hanger! … I think!**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**HOORAH! New chapter. Thank you for your wonderful reviews, I promise I will try to update this story quicker next time. Enjoy!**_

Bunny tipped his head to the side in amusement. What was that winter sprite doing now? His ears twitched in recognition of Jack's peppy voice, but there was someone else with him, someone in that house who obviously believed in the frost child if he was talking to them.

He ran a list of all the children he knew who believed in Jack Frost. The Bennet children obviously didn't live here and through memories of egg planting in the back yards of the other children of the world, it wasn't any of their friends either. But those were the only people who ever believed in Jack… right?

According to his sources, there were no children in this house, so who was Jack talking to? Leaning onto all fours, he bounded silently after the giddy spirit's voice, twitching his ears to get a better idea of who exactly he was with.

He was hunched below one of the windows now, his ears barely reaching the sill so that he could hear inside. He barely caught someone else's voice through the constant grinding of teeth while someone chewed loudly, not even pausing to breathe.

All he knew is that it was female. Bunny had practically pressed himself against the wall of the house now, trying to hear around the outside noises and the scraping of a fork against a plate. Finally, he heard Jack speak. "So… how was your Christmas?" He asked casually. Bunny cocked an eyebrow. Whoever he was talking to definitely could see and hear him, but it certainly wasn't a child.

It was part of his instincts, some part in the Pooka's animal intuition told him that whoever was in there with their winter spirit was not a child, which raised the question of why they believed in him, it was much like the feeling North got in his belly, a gut wrenching feeling that just magically pulled you through the mist of your thoughts as if there were no other possibilities.

The other voice spoke up suddenly. A happy and cheerful voice. "Wonderful, I love the doll so much, thank you." She said excitedly.

Wait! Doll? North's doll. He knew Jack had taken it, but to just go on and give it to someone else, it perplexed the rabbit beyond comprehension. He knew the boy was not heartless, more generous than any of the other guardians actually, but it surprised Bunny for some reason seeing that he had taken something from the guardian of wonder and give it to someone else, just to get a new believer?

That had to be it. The poor kid had been alone and invisible to everyone for three-hundred years with no one but the wind to comfort him. A pang of guilt hit the Pooka as he remembered that he had been one of those to blame for his years of solitude. The only time he had even acknowledged the spirit of winter and snow was to yell at him for ruining Easter in '68 when he was merely looking for someone to talk to.

Bunny sighed to himself, silently vowing to himself that the winter child would be ignored no longer, he would get more believers over time and if it had to start with giving someone a handmade doll from North's workshop, so be it, the man would understand, they all had a soft spot for the child.

"What do you mean? Nor- I mean Santa delivers the toys to the children, not me." Jack's voice said quickly, pausing for a moment before huffing grouchily. "How did you know it was me?"

Bunny almost burst out laughing at the complete and utter annoyance in his voice. He had never heard the giddy guardian of fun so grumpy and deflated by being caught in one of his own tricks. His stifled chuckled stopped instantly as realization dawned upon him. Why would he feign the gift to be from North if _Jack _was trying to gain believers? Unless he wasn't. But why else would he give the person the doll?

He raised his large ears to listen again. "Santa doesn't visit my house, remember?" The other voice said.

Bunny's ears flattened. Why would North skip a house? Perhaps the child was naughty… that had to be it. But his instincts told him otherwise, the grey hairs on his neck raising and making him shiver, something was definitely wrong. The rest of the conversation was a blur to the Pooka as his thought swirled around in his mind as he tried to make sense of the situation.

He remembered the conversation he had had just moments earlier with North about the dragon being able to change forms. He didn't actually think it to be an actual possibility though, it was merely a thought that had come to him when taking time off painting his eggs to look for the beast, trying to get the cramps out of his furry paws that had been gripping a paintbrush for hours at a time.

But now his theory only made his green eyes widen with horror. Someone who is not a child who can see Jack Frost, a winter spirit who practically no one else could see, never being visited by Santa Clause. The girl in the house wasn't a child, it wasn't even human!

He barely even knew what happened next as his protective instincts took over his shaking body until he found himself hurling through the window and rolling into the house. He leapt up onto his back legs and stood as tall as he could, grabbing his boomerangs and glaring daggers at the demon gripping Jack's blue sweater.

"Jack, get out of here!" He shouted angrily, gripping his boomerangs tighter. Jack perked up instantly, the spell being pulled over him must have been lifting. The rabbit's glare returned to the girl whose grip was still on the boy's arm, still keeping him under her charm, he couldn't escape. "Your leave him alone!" He shouted, raising one of his boomerangs to throw it. The thing ducked behind Jack only to pause, seeing that her captive wasn't there anymore. Bunny began to smirk, reaching back to release his weapon at the beast when a cold grip tightened on his arm.

"Bunny no!" jack shouted. Bunny stopped, seeing that the frost spirit was clinging to his arm like a lifeline, his eyes wide and slightly… was that guilt? The Pooka stopped short, staring at the young guardian in shock before tearing his arm away from jack's grip. Why was he being so difficult? Then again this was _Jack. _There was nothing not difficult about the boy.

He turned to the guardian of fun, glancing back at the dragon quickly to make sure it hadn't tried to escape while he was distracted. "Jack, ya don't know what you're doin!" He said, grabbing him by both shoulders and forcing the boy to snap out of his trance only for him to shove the furry paws again. "That thing! It's the-" The beast flinched slightly, good, he was scaring it.

"Dragon, I know." Jack cut in angrily. He sighed slightly before looking back at the terrified creature behind him nervously, an apologetic look lining his pale face, only perplexing and angering the rabbit more. "Bunny, Eden. Eden… this is the Easter Bunny." The boy said, gesturing to each one in turn.

The world fell into a deep silence. Everything seemed to suddenly lose control in the Pooka's mind as the Earth seemed to crumble beneath him. Jack wasn't being controlled at all, he had purposefully disobeyed the guardians to fraternize with the enemy. This was worse than Pitch, this thing was actually trying to kill Jack Frost and here the boy was. Bunny didn't know if it was because of the pride of the young guardian getting to the boy's head, but he was in serious trouble now.

The silence was brutally cut off as a boy in the corner of the room who the rabbit had not noticed before cleared his throat, gaining the redhead's attention. "You know, this only happens at your house." He said flatly, before scraping a fork against the plate in front of him and knowing on a piece of sticky pancake.

…

About five minutes later, the four were all gathered into Eden's living room. Jack had forcibly taken Bunny's boomerangs and exploding eggs from the reluctant Pooka as he tried to make him actually sit down and listed rather than grabbing him and taking off down one of his tunnels and to the Pole to tell the others.

Sandy was much easier to convince in the matter of Eden being one of the good guys. But Bunny was almost as stubborn as he was and he wasn't quite sure how he was going to force it through his thick rabbit skull that Eden wasn't the one he needed protection from.

Eden had positioned herself just about as far away from the glaring rabbit as she could, half sitting in a one person chair as if planning to leap up and run to safety if needed, not that he would let that happen. Bunny had taken it upon himself to sit on the floor, leaning back on his haunches like a dog but still managing to look perfectly threatening, his back legs twitching as if to bound at the girl, either way, they were both planning out their escape routes.

Daniel seemed to be the only one who wasn't nervously twitching as he lounged lazily across one of the leather couches, glancing between the three of them as if this was a perfectly normal occurrence… which wouldn't have been all that surprising.

Jack took a deep breath pausing after seeing the blackened imprint of his own body on Eden's white carpeted flooring… wow, he was scrawny. Bunny cleared his throat loudly, snapping Jack out of his daze and his cheeks flushed as he realized that everyone was looking at him expectantly.

Eden flashed her gaze from the floating frost spirit to the giant bunny in the corner and then switching back to Jack after realizing that the rabbit was glaring back at her before finding a comfortable and suddenly interesting spot on the floor to stare at blankly.

"Alright Frostbite, out with it. What's going on?" Bunny said suddenly, raising himself up on his back two legs and stomping towards the nervous guardian. Eden flinched notably, gasping and staring at the rabbit with terrified green eyes. Bunny flashed a glance at her before turning back to Jack, waiting for him to answer.

Jack gulped audibly. "Well…"

"Well?" Bunny said angrily, annoyance biting bitterly in his voice.

"Stop it!" Jack practically shouted, making the rabbit flinch slightly and his eyes soften. "Quit rushing me, I'm trying to figure out how to explain this the best I can and you sending death glares over my shoulder isn't helping." He finished, catching Bunnymund off guard as his eyes widened, flickering back to the boy from the girl behind him.

The rabbit nodded slightly in agreement, leaning back and crossing his furry arms and allowing Jack a chance to think of the right words. Jack sighed, running one hand through his white hair and knocking his staff against his foot with the other.

"The night we got the message from the moon, I snuck off to find the dragon." He blurted out.

"What?" Bunny practically shouted. "You were-"

"Tired of being treated like a child." He finished, making Bunny stumble back in surprise. "I've taken care of myself for three-hundred years and I don't need your protection now. I got angry that you guys were excluding me and went in search of the dragon only to find Eden." He said, gesturing to the redhead behind him.

Eden looked up at the mention of her name. Bunny sighed and looked back at the frost spirit, trying his hardest not to shut at the boy for being so foolish as to take off in the first place.

Jack took this as his cue to continue. "She's not evil and she doesn't want to kill me." He explained.

"How do you know that?" Bunny asked. "That- that thing could just be waiting for you to turn your back before it-"

"I would never hurt anyone!" Everyone jumped slightly as Eden practically leapt off of the chair and approached the giant rabbit.

"And _she_ is not an _it_." Daniel emphasized further, sounding defensive rather than his usual playful and sarcastic self.

Bunny lowered himself a couple of inches, his ego suddenly deflating as he realized that everyone else in the room was against his own beliefs. "Bunny, I don't care if you believe me or not, but you can't tell anyone about this." Jack said. "I'm not the only one being hunted here." He tried explaining.

"Wait, I thought you said that you weren't being hunted." Bunny said.

"Not by her." He offered nervously, seeing Bunny's ears flop back and his gaze widen.

"There's more?" He almost whispered.

"Just one." Eden said, knowing Jack wouldn't know the answer to that one.

"And she kind of hates her." Daniel said, back to his sarcastic tone and jabbing a thumb at his best friend who merely glared back at him.

"So what now?" Bunny asked.

_**YAAAAY! I'm sorry it took so long, I would give you some good excused but I really have none besides the fact that I've been seriously procrastinating after some serious writer's block on the last chapter. I hope you liked it.**_

_**Please review!**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**CHAPTER!**_

Eden had seen enough strangeness in one day to last her a lifetime, one moment she was living a out a normal day (her version of a normal day at least) talking to Jack when all reality was torn away as the giant rabbit hurtled himself into her kitchen.

They had all situated themselves around her living room. Eden had taken it upon herself to sit as far away from the giant rodent as possible, sitting in the small armchair in the corner of the room, also the closest to the nearest exit incase she needed a quick escape. She turned from the exit back to the crowded room and flinched slightly upon seeing the giant monster rabbit situating himself on the floor on the opposite side of the room, glaring at her threateningly, his legs twitching as if to warn her that is she made any move toward the doorway he would catch her in an instant.

She gulped inwardly, slinking back to the bottom of the cushioned chair and looking over to Daniel for any moral support whatsoever only to find nothing. In fact, he seemed perfectly calm in the entire matter. Sure he had seen strange things, being friends with a dragon has that small drawback, but the Easter Bunny was sitting right in front of him, glaring daggers at his best friend and all he could offer was his usual sarcastic character.

To be quite honest though, it did do a lot to calm her down through, knowing that the occurrence wasn't scaring the only one in the room with nothing to defend himself with almost made the giant rodent seem less threatening… almost.

Jack was floating aimlessly in the middle of the room as if trying to find the right words to start with.

"Alright Frostbite, out with it. What's going on?" The rabbit exclaimed suddenly, Standing up to his full height and marching over to the center of the living room, making Eden flinch nervously, trying to resist the urge to flee the room entirely. The rabbit stared at her in what could only be described as disgust before looking expectantly at Jack.

The winter spirit in question gulped nervously before starting his explanation. "Well…" He trailed off as if his idea had dissipated suddenly.

"Well?" The Bunny prodded, obviously annoyed. Something seemed to snap inside Jack.

"Stop it!" He snapped. The monstrous rabbit flinched slightly in surprise, making Daniel snicker and look at Eden with a friendly smile. Eden smiled back half-heartedly before looking back at the angered guardian. "Quit rushing me, I'm trying to figure out how to explain this the best I can and you sending death glares over my shoulder isn't helping."

The rabbit's glance quickly flashed from Eden back to Jack guiltily as if he had just been caught stealing cookies, his eyes softening slightly. He nodded in agreement, crossing his paws over one another and looking at him expectantly.

Jack took a deep breath, and looked back at Eden for a moment almost apologetically. "The night we got the message from the moon, I snuck off to find the dragon." He blurted out.

The Rabbit seemed taken aback "What? You were-"

"Tired of being treated like a child." Jack said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I've taken care of myself for three-hundred years and I don't need your protection now."

Eden's face fell, he had been ignored by the guardians even longer than she had and he was an immortal! He was supposed to be noticed wasn't he?

"I got angry that you guys were excluding me and went in search of the dragon only to find Eden." Eden was broken from her trance at the mention of her name in the conversation. "She's not evil and she doesn't want to kill me." He continued quickly as if the rabbit would try to interrupt again before he got to his main point.

"How do you know that?" The uninvited guest burst out in complete anger and confusion. "That- that thing could just be waiting for you to turn your back before it-"

"I would never hurt anyone!" Eden fought the urge to smile as everyone visibly jumped in surprise as she took her own stand in the conversation. She was no longer afraid of the giant rabbit standing tall above her anymore. First he thinks he can leap into her house and accuse her of trying to hurt Jack and then she hears that he, along with all the other so called guardians had ignored her only friend besides Daniel for _three-hundred years. _ Realization hit her hard. The Easter Bunny was in _her house, _why was _she _afraid?

She was practically face-to-face with the Easter Bunny now when she heard Daniel stand up from his spot on the couch to join her and placing a hand on her shoulder defensively.

"And _she_ is not an _it_." He pressed, the sarcasm in his voice disappearing entirely as it was quickly replaced with anger.

The rabbit stumbled back a bit, looking at Jack quickly before realizing that no one was siding with him at the moment before giving in slightly to the gang up on him. His ears flattened against his head and his eyes fell to the floor before Jack spoke up again, floating up between Eden and the rabbit.

"Bunny, I don't care if you believe me or not, but you can't tell anyone about this." Jack said. "I'm not the only one being hunted here." He said determinedly, looking back at Eden as if to verify this.

"Wait, I thought you said that you weren't being hunted." The rabbit said confusedly.

"Not by her." Jack said, gesturing towards Eden.

The Bunny's eyes widened in shock as realization dawned upon him. "There's more?" He almost whispered.

"Just one." Eden said nervously as if it weren't her place to speak but knowing that Jack wouldn't really know how to answer.

Daniel raised an eyebrow and chuckled slightly, the usual sarcasm returning to his voice. "And she kind of hates her." He said, sticking his thumb out almost accusingly at her. Eden glared at him angrily at the abruptness of it all.

The room became once again, awkwardly silent before the rabbit cleared his throat. "So what now?" He asked.

"Yeah… we don't know." Daniel said, earning a sharp jab in his side by Eden's elbow. "Ow!"

"What he means is, we haven't actually planned that far yet since Jack was stuck at the pole for the past few days." Eden offered, feeling the tension between her and the rabbit, although obviously still there, slowly begin to deteriorate.

"Does anyone else know about this?" He asked, turning to Jack pointedly as if telling Eden to keep her distance even if they were no longer on enemy terms. Eden took her cue and stepped back slightly.

Jack shrugged a bit, clutching his staff closer to his body. "Just Sandy, he kind of tracked one of the dreams I sent her and found out on his own."

Eden looked up in shock, that's how she got that dream a few nights ago. "You did that?" She asked, completely dumbfounded at the fact that after knowing her after just one day he would actually replace her usual nightmares with an actual dream.

He smiled sheepishly. "Thought the least I could do was give you a real dream." He said.

Bunny's eyebrows knit themselves together in confusion. "Wait, waddaya mean a 'real dream?' Don't you sleep?"

Eden smiled as she tried to stifle her laugh, unlike Daniel who had burst out in a sudden fit of laughter. "Yes, I do sleep. I just don't actually… dream." The rabbit raised an eyebrow tentatively. Eden let out an annoyed huff before trying to explain. "I don't get visits from any of the guardians, so I don't actually get dreams like most people do."

…

Bunny let his ears droop down in shock. This kid seriously didn't get any dreams from Sandy? No visits from any of the guardians. Bunny knew they steered away from creatures other than human children, but he had never actually thought of the consequences of this. Eden couldn't have been younger than fifteen and yet she seemed perfectly fine in a traumatic sense and seemed more annoyed than grudging against him, although that could probably have been explained through the fact that he had just broken into her home and accused her of trying to hurt Jack.

He didn't trust her yet. No, he hadn't quite given into the whole 'good dragon' story quite yet, but he did believe that if she had any intentions of hurting Jack she would have done it by now, when she had him alone.

What else had she missed out on? No dreams, no Christmas presents from North, no teeth replaced with a quarter… no Easter eggs. The girl had grown up with no sense of belief in the guardians, or if she had, it had disappeared quickly. Although she shouldn't be able to see them if she didn't believe in them, nut Bunny had decided to leave that to the fact that she wasn't even human.

Her friend was though. The boy, Daniel obviously believed even through his teenage years, but seeing as though he had places his friendship into that of a dragon, the guardians probably weren't that big of a surprise anyhow.

"So what is it?" He blurted out, honestly, through all the confusion whirling around in his head, Bunny was surprised that he had managed even that much.

"What?" Jack asked confusedly, looking over his shoulder to Eden who merely shrugged her shoulders.

"The thing that _is _hunting you? It is a dragon isn't it? Can it disguise itself too?" This time, he actually turned himself towards the dragon girl, still keeping his distance but acknowledging her at the least.

She almost seemed surprised to have the question directed at her rather than Jack but took only a moment to regain her composure. "Yeah, she's a dragon, I'm not sure if she can change, I haven't seen it happen myself, but it's a form that we're given once we're born, so I doubt she would spend all of her time in dragon form seeing as though it wouldn't be a very kept secret now that we don't have all that many places to hide around here. I'm not sure why she'd be after Jack though." She explained.

"Why would she be after you?" Bunny asked curiously, seeing Jack nod out of the corner of his eyes as if wondering the same thing.

"Because she hates Eden." Daniel said plainly as if it were a perfectly good explanation.

"It's not my fault!" Eden shouted defensively.

"I never said it was… but it is true, she hates you… like a lot." The boy prodded. Sheesh, this kid was almost worse than Jack… almost.

"Why?" Jack inquired.

"We're the last two dragons, I'm not really sure why that makes her so defensive, but she wants to be the last one, she thought she killed me eight years ago along with my parents and brother, but I guess she found out somehow that I'm still alive about two years ago and started giving me weird reoccurring dreams. I don't know why, but she's really intent on being the last of us."

Both Jack and Bunny stared at her solemnly. Her parents had died at the hands of the same beast trying to kill Jack. Not only had the Guardians not been there to protect her childhood hopes and dreams, but they had failed in realizing just how bad this situation had become. She had lost her parents at such a young age and their murderess was now trying to kill her off as well for no apparent reason? And why bring Jack into this?

Daniel placed an arm around his friend as if to comfort her although she didn't seem all too bothered by the subject at hand. Then again, she had already lost most of her innocence, simply speaking of it couldn't worry her too much, it was like when Sandy had been taken by the Pitch a year prior. Sandy was one of them, his friend, his family. But when he was taken, all Bunny could think about were the children, that was what they lost Sandy for and they weren't about to give up on him.

Luckily, Sandy hadn't actually been killed though, just overtaken by darkness and taken away from the guardians until the children were able to bring him back. Eden's family had been killed, they wouldn't come back and neither would she if she died.

Bunny took a deep breath and sighed. "Oi, fine, I'll help you two, but you've gotta tell the others eventually Frostbite. We're gonna need more help than just Sandy and me."

Jack's face fell. "Even North?" Bunny raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Not that I have anything against that it's just… the doll I gave E… I kinda stole it."

"What!?"

_**OH… My… GOSH!**_

_**Okay, I think I've finally pushed my way through the thick wall of writer's block and I'm sorry most of this chapter was a recap, but I thought it was kind of necessary.**_

_**Please review!**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**HEY! The Writeris Blockikus have been eliminated from my mind and will no longer bug me… today. ;)**_

_**Anywho, enjoy!**_

_**I even threw in a 'Monsters inc.' quote in this chapter so see if you can spot it… it's not actually that subtle.**_

It wasn't that he was afraid that the guardians would hurt Eden, frankly, the one he had been most worried about had been Bunny and that had gone much more smooth than the young winter spirit would have wagered.

He knew he had to tell the other guardians at some point. By now, only Tooth and North were still oblivious to Jack's not-so-secret friend and both Bunnymund and Sandy were pressing him to tell them. He wanted to too, it wasn't like he needed to keep it a secret anymore. In fact, the more of the guardians who knew, the easier it would be to keep both the boy of ice and girl of flame from danger. But a tugging feeling in his gut made his jaw clamp shut every time he approached either the large burly man or the feathered fairy.

He had just fled from the Tooth Palace in a frantic escape from the fluttering fairies as their eyes bore into him. It wasn't that he wanted to leave either, it was as if the wind had simply decided enough was enough and grabbed the spirit, taking off back towards Burgess.

They had hardly even begun to talk too. Just half an hour ago, Jack was happy, actually excited to tell one of his friends his secret as he leapt out of the soft arms of the wind and onto the shiny golden floors of the Tooth Palace, placing his feet delicately on the shiny surface as if he would scuff it.

"Tooth?!" He called, looking up and trying to see around the massive maze of hanging gold chandeliers. As soon as the soft voice of the winter spirit had reached the tiny ears of the Tooth fairy's fluttering minis' ears, he regretted ever saying anything.

All fairies stopped, the buzzing that had just moments ago filled the palace, accompanied with soft chirps and giddy squeaks had stopped. All eyes were on Jack. "Oh no." He whimpered helplessly as the minis began to swarm around him in a large cloud of rainbow feathers.

Jack was practically thrown back entirely as the mob hit him, some of the fairies pulled at his fluffy white hair while others pried open his mouth, prodding at the snow white teeth. "Gah!" He cried just as one of the minis accidentally poked her small beak too close to Jack's sparkling teeth, sending a painful pinch throughout his mouth as it prodded at his gums.

"What is going on here?" A voice called, making all of the mini fairies freeze mid-torture and look up with frightened purple eyes at their mother. "Jack?"

"Hai Toof!" The winter spirit replied, his mouth still wide open with the baby teeth swooning at his molars.

"Back to work girls." Tooth giggled, clapping her hands twice to grab the minis' attention. The small fairies let out a simultaneous objection of various chirps and squeaks before allowing themselves to pull away from their beloved Jack Frost and return back to their jobs collecting teeth. "Jack, are you okay?" Tooth asked, floating back over to where the young guardian was picking rainbow feathers off of his blue hoodie.

"I think I'm bleeding." He stated flatly, massaging his sore gums that had been stabbed by the mini fairy beak with one finger.

"You know that wouldn't happen if you flossed more." Tooth pointed out, receiving a quizzical glance from Jack.

"Okay, I'll make sure to remember that next time I'm attacked by your minions." He joked back. "Listen, I actually came here to-"

"Hold that thought Jack." Tooth stopped him mid-sentence, holding out a dainty hand as if to pause the boy. Jack huffed, waiting for Tooth to finish cooing over her new addition to her blood and gum collection. The baby Tooth fluttered away and the larger fairy turned back to the winter spirit. "Sorry what were you saying?" She asked apologetically.

"It's about the dragon." He began again, trying to take a more direct approach, knowing Tooth, she would only get distracted again if the story was drawn out too long.

"Oh Jack, I'm sorry. I still don't have any clue about what's going on with the dragon issue. But I am trying, honestly. We'll find it don't worry." She interrupted once again.

Jack raised an eyebrow, making sure she had finished before he continued on with his seemingly pointless story. "Tooth, I'm not worried. Listen there's another-"

"Oh my goodness would you look at how she flossed!"

Jack could have sworn he felt his eye twitch. Was this how Bunny felt talking to him? "Yeah, I bet she doesn't bleed when stabbed in the gums, good for her. Tooth I need you to listen I-"

"NO!"

Jack practically fell back at the sudden outburst from his so recently calm friend who now wore a face of pure horror. "How could he?" She practically cried groping at the tooth that now sat in her small hands. "He brushed so well last I saw his teeth, how could it have come to this?"

Jack raised another dark brow, peering into the sullen fairy's hand to see a tooth covered in yellow and a dark hole boring into one side. "Tooth it's just a cavity." He stated flatly. Tooth's head snapped up, making the winter child stumble back, putting his hands up in defense. "Sorry, I didn't mean that. But I do really need to talk to you about the dragon Tooth." He said, trying to steer the conversation, if you could even call it that, back on track.

A loud squeal from behind made Jack turn around and almost fly away had the mini darting excitedly toward him not been Baby Tooth herself. "Hey Baby Tooth." Jack greeted calmly, hoping that she may be some help to keeping the larger, more flighty (no pun intended) version of herself on task.

Baby nuzzled up to Jack's cheek before resting on his frost covered shoulder.

"I was just telling Tooth about what I found out about the dragon!" He said loudly, hoping to catch the once again distracted Tooth Fairy's attention to no prevail. It was then that he practically snapped. "You know, how there's more than one? How they can transform into human forms and only one of them is evil?" He continued, finally deciding that this way he could at least say that he had in fact told the fairy about Eden.

Tooth turned, hearing Jack's raised voice through the mist of excitement as yet another tooth was placed into the palm of her hand only to find that the young spirit was no longer there. "Jack?"

…

Jack was already back in the clouds, floating aimlessly in the cold breeze. Now what would he tell the others? They were counting on him to tell the last remaining guardians and yet one still scared him half to death due to the doll incident and one couldn't even take two seconds from her job to listen to the troubled winter spirit.

Bunny and Sandy had both agreed that if Jack hadn't told either of the two for another week they would be forced to tell them themselves for both Eden and Jack's protection and already three days had passed since the run in with Bunny.

It wasn't long before he found himself back on the rooftop of the large brown house, tapping the window to Eden's room lightly with his staff and sending frost designs across the wooden frame. The window was pulled open and Jack's vision was suddenly bombarded with bright tendrils of orange and red.

"Hey Jack!" Eden called, smiling brightly at the boy before waving her hand at him, gesturing for him to come inside.

Jack obliged, leaping lightly with ease from the rooftop to Eden's window sill before sliding into Eden's room which was once again covered in papers strewn about the floor. Daniel sat lazily on the bed, seemingly interested in one of the many sketch pads that littered the room. Seriously, did that kid ever leave? Like _ever_?

"Hi." He greeted half-heartedly, flipping the page of the tattered sketch book.

"Who'd you tell?" Eden asked excitedly, wrists bumping together in anticipation. Ever since it had been mentioned that all the guardians would soon be in on their 'secret,' as if it still deserved that title anymore, she had been asking constantly in anticipation, who would be the first to know.

She had suggested taking the doll back to North and telling him while the man was put back in a good mood, but frankly Jack was still terrified how North would react once he figured out Jack had stolen it from his privet office in the first place.

"Um… the Tooth Fairy?" Jack answered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You sure about that?" Offered Daniel, not taking his eyes off of the page in front of him. "You don't sound to confident to me." Jack froze, looking between him and Eden's questioning gaze. "Your stunned silence is very reassuring." He finished, flipping the page once more.

"You didn't tell her?" Eden asked, plainly confused.

Jack shook his head viciously. "No, I did! She just didn't hear me." Eden tilted her head, letting her red curls to fall to one side. "It's not my fault!" Jack said defensively. "She had a shorter attention span then Daniel."

"What?"

"Exactly."

"Well what about Santa?" Eden offered.

"North," Jack corrected subconsciously. "I haven't told him yet, I felt that Tooth would be an easier approach but her job just takes so much of her attention I can't even hold a conversation for more than two seconds before being bombarded with blood and gums." At this, both Eden and Daniel raised an eyebrow of confusion and slight amusement. "You don't want to know." He finished just as a loud squeak filled the room.

The three looked about in puzzlement, wondering what had possibly made that noise when a heavy breathing Baby Tooth fluttered dizzily out of Jack's jacket pocket. "Baby Tooth?" Jack wondered aloud, remembering that the small fairy had overheard his sudden outburst with Tooth.

Eden was up and over face-to-face with the mini in the blink of an eye. "Oh my goodness! She's so pretty!" She exclaimed wildly, lifting a tentative finger to the fairy's long beak. Baby Tooth merely tilted her head to one side in amusement before flying up and simply landing on the redhead's finger, staring up at her bright red curls in excitement and wonder, obviously pleased by the compliments and sudden attention.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, still puzzled about the fact that Baby Tooth had stowed away in the first place. Baby Tooth merely gestured towards the dragon-girl. Jack smiled slightly and rolled his eyes. "Well at least someone heard me. Baby Tooth, this is Eden, a god dragon, and Eden, this is one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers, Baby Tooth." Jack introduced, glad that this introduction didn't involve flying kangaroos and battle stances.

"Is this what fairies look like? I've never actually seen a real fairy before. You're so cute!" Eden cooed.

"Give her something small and colorful and she's instantly transformed into a rambling five year-old." Daniel stated blankly, glancing up from the sketch book at his friend who was still staring wide eyes at the fairy resting on her finger as she babbled on about how colorful Baby Tooth's feathers were and how adorable she thought she was.

"Well, now I know I can get mini me to listen, all I need is to actually get Tooth to hear me out before the next shipment of molars come in." Jack huffed. Baby Tooth practically leapt off of Eden's finger, flittering over to Jack excitedly and pointing to herself and squeaking something incoherent to the frost child. Luckily he understood her motives. "You think you can get her to come here?" Baby Tooth nodded excitedly.

"Gah!" Eden cried in anticipation, sending the unsuspecting Daniel jumping about a foot in the air and off the bed he had once been lounging on. "The Tooth Fairy's going to be in my room!"

_**PLEASE REVIEW!**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Baby Tooth POV!**_

_**Okay, this chapter may be a little confusing in the middle but just to clarify, Baby Tooth is having a flashback.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

"NO!"

"Daniel, please?"

"No way!" The teen shouted again, his hands flying up to cover his mouth while the remaining three in the room merely stared at him with skeptical eyebrows raised. "Why don't you do it if you want to see the Tooth Fairy so badly?"

Eden stood up from the doorknob where she had been tying a piece of string to. "Because the Guardians don't keep tabs on me remember? If I lose a tooth, no one will know I even lost it."

"It'll be a selfless sacrifice that'll be respected forever."

"Daniel!"

"Make him do it!" H said, thrusting a pointed finger at Jack. The winter spirit opened his mouth to respond but unfortunately Baby Tooth beat him to it. Flittering angrily in the dark-haired boy's face and squeaking loudly obviously angered at the fact that the mortal would dare even suggest tearing out one of Jack's pearly white teeth. Daniel merely stared at her blankly, eyes wide in pure terror. "I don't know what you're even saying but that was completely horrifying."

"Wait, how is this going to get the actual Tooth Fairy here?" Eden asked. "Don't the mini fairies collect the teeth?"

Jack looked at the small fairy who had taken to sitting on Eden's shoulder and playing with the bouncy curls before answering. "Baby Tooth can put some type of charm on the tooth that alerts Tooth."

"Well that's convenient."

Jack smiled. "There have been a lot of problems for the mini fairies when the kids set up traps for them and they need a way to contact her. Baby can put a charm on Daniel's tooth and alert Tooth, telling her to come here."

"I never agreed to this!" Daniel shouted.

"But you are the only one here who has a tooth that we can put a charm on so that the Tooth Fairy will actually respond." Eden explained, holding out the other end of the string out to him. This side with a small loop at the end.

Daniel visibly paled. "Please Danny?" Eden pleaded, sticking her bottom lip out in fake pout.

"Yeah, please Danny?" Jack copied, stifling a laugh.

Daniel scowled. "Watch it Snow-cone." He said before huffing sigh. "Fine, but this better be worth it." He said angrily, grabbing the looped string and slipping it over one of his back teeth.

"Don't worry." Eden said, walking over to the door. "It'll be so quick you won't feel a thing." And with that, the door was slammed shut.

"Gah!"

…

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad."

"I can still taste blood!"

"At least we got the tooth."

"After slamming the door three times to pull it out all the way and dragging me across the room… I'm pretty sure you almost tore my head off."

"I told you to put it on one of your front teeth, then it wouldn't have hurt so much."

"And what, go to school with a tooth visibly missing? I don't want to look like a weirdo!"

"Well…"

"Don't even go there!"

Baby Tooth couldn't believe how much those two resembled Bunny and North when bickering about Christmas and Easter being the best holiday, or Bunny and Jack when arguing about… everything else. The small fairy had slipped the bloody molar out of the loop in the string and now held it daintily in her hands. She couldn't help but look at it adoringly for a moment. It certainly wasn't as white as Jack's and it was obvious that the boy skipped his flossing every once and a while, but it was beautiful as far as teeth went and she could tell that the memory kept in this tooth was to be her favorite.

The charms weren't all too hard to put on a tooth, but she'd only done it once before and had to think upon how to do it. It had been at least two-hundred years since she had needed to use the calling charm, she had been flying over a small town when she felt the unbearable pull of a tooth being placed under a child's pillow in desperate need of being taken back to the Tooth Palace.

She flitted through a window, smiling happily at the small boy tucked into the bed, smiling happily in his sleep. Baby Tooth flew over to the bed and clambered underneath the pillows. Her hand rested upon the smooth edges of the tooth and the happy memory of the child racing his friends home before tripping and tumbling into the bushes, only to come out with a wide gapped smile and a small tooth in his fingers.

The memory was suddenly torn from her vision as the pillow, the barrier between her and the child, was torn away and a wall of glass surrounded her.

Baby Tooth turned around frantically to come face-to-face with two large green eyes. The little boy smiling widely at the small fairy with eyes open wide with wonder. "I knew it!" He whispered to himself. Baby Tooth pressed herself against the glass jar, clutching the tooth to her chest as if the boy would try to take it back.

"My sister said you weren't real, but I knew you were, I just knew it!" He was bouncing giddily on the bed now, making Baby Tooth know against the glass. "I have to show her." Baby froze. No one was supposed to see her.

The little boy scooped up the jar quickly, placing his hand over the top so his captive fairy couldn't slip out. Baby, bit her lip, knowing it was the only thing to do before silently apologizing to the boy and pecking his hand with her sharp beak.

She waited for the hand to come off of the top of the jar but the glass container was only slammed down on the bedside table, sending her tumbling off the sides of the glass and onto the dark wood.

"Ow!" The boy cried, inspecting his hand. "Fine, I'll go get her myself, don't move, okay Tooth Fairy? I'll be right back. Suzy, Suzy I caught her!" The boy took off.

Baby Tooth didn't know what to do now. She was trapped in a jar and the humans would be coming back soon. Pushing the jar did nothing, her size was ideal for getting teeth, but not for escaping glass prisons. It was then that she realized there was another way.

Baby Tooth grabbed the tooth, which had been discarded on the dark wood underneath the jar and placed both hands delicately over the top, following Tooth's directions exactly for emergency procedures.

The Tooth Fairy was graced with speedy wings that brought her to her trapped mini-fairy before the children even came back into the room. And when they did, all that was under the overturned jar was a bright shiny quarter.

…

The Tooth Fairy was hovering in her palace, halfheartedly giving orders to her workers. Had Jack just up and left? Why would he just leave like that?

Her elegant shoulders slumped a bit. She knew it was probably because she had been too caught up with the teeth coming in. The poor boy had been so worried about the dragon lately and she wasn't comforting him like she should have been.

Ever since Jack had become a guardian, allowing the others to get to know him better, she had taken it upon herself to be the boy's mother figure. And part of the mother role was to listen to Jack when he needed her to listed which she had most certainly neglected to do when the frost spirit stopped by earlier.

She was about to direct another fleet of fairies out towards central Europe when a sharp ringing in her ears began, alerting her that one of her fairies was in trouble. Had another been captured? Oh if anything had happened to one of her fairies she would never forgive herself.

Without a word to the others, Tooth zipped out of the Tooth Palace, taking off towards the instinctive pull of the troubled fairy. Her fluttering wings took her up into Northern Burgess, smiling fondly at the Bennet's house.

A tall brown house caught her attention from a distance, that was where the pull was coming from. But to her knowledge, no children lived in this house. Why would one of her fairies be in there, let alone captured if no believers were there?

Tooth pushed the thought aside for now, if one of her beautiful angels needed her help, she needed to get there fast. Although it was a bit strange that Jack's head was sticking out of one of the second story windows.

His head was turning from side-to-side, his blue eyes scanning the area as if searching for something before he caught sight of the colorful Tooth Fairy. His face lit up instantly before waving both arms and staff in the air. "Tooth!" He shouted.

Tooth was thoroughly confused, why was Jack here? "I can't Jack," It broke her heart to say, "I need to go, one of my fairies is in trouble." She said, looking solemnly at the winter child. Baby Tooth came zipping out from behind the boy, holding a new pearly white tooth in her feathery arms.

The small fairy was giving a high throbbing pull against Tooth's mother instinct. It had been Baby to set off the alarm, but why? The mini-fairy smiled sheepishly before squeaking out a quick 'I'm sorry' before flitting back into the house behind Jack.

"Jack, what's going on?" Tooth asked, a bit annoyed by the fact that the whole alarm had been merely to get her attention.

"You know how I was talking about how I found the dragon and she wasn't bad and all that at the palace?" The boy asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Tooth shook her head.

"Jack, what are you talking about? Are you okay?"

Jack just nodded before reaching out and grabbing one of Tooth's hands and tugging her inside. "Well I did tell you but you didn't hear me. This is her." He said, gesturing with an arm towards a sight that had Tooth backing back out towards the window.

In front of her stood two mortals. A boy with dark hair and a cotton ball in his mouth who she instantly recognized as Daniel, a boy of mischief yet so many happy memories. It was the other that had caught her attention though. The girl had red curly hair, which Baby Tooth was now pulling at playfully, and bright green eyes widened with wonder as she stared up at the Tooth Fairy.

Tooth didn't recognize the girl at all. No memories, no teeth, nothing. "Jack, who are these people?" She asked.

Jack smiled. "This is Daniel." He said, gesturing towards the teenage boy pressing the cotton ball which Tooth could now tell was covered in blood further into his mouth.

"Hai." He greeted, waving with his extra arm.

"And this is Eden, she's a dragon, but she's not evil. Sandy and Bunny already know and I was trying to tell you earlier but you were kinda busy."

"Dragon." Tooth mouthed the word, she half expected the girl to transform into a ravenous beast and attack her, but the red-head merely stared at her with those wide eyes that would put North to shame before raising a hand tentatively towards her bright feathers, pulling back when seeing the fairy lady flinch instinctively.

"Jack." Tooth managed, looking at the boy expectantly when something caught her eye. "Is that North's doll?"

"Oh come on!" Jack said, throwing both arms in the air angrily. "I didn't know it was that important okay?"

"Is this why you called me?" Tooth asked Baby Tooth who was still playing with Eden's hair. The small fairy nodded, squeaking out something about the girl being really kind and curious. Finally, Tooth gave in to the child-like face with those bright green eyes. "Tooth." She said, offering a hand out to the girl who grasped it gently in her own, staring at the yellow feathers encircling her wrist in a bracelet of gold.

"I can't believe it." She practically whispered. "The Tooth Fairy's in my room!" She let go of Tooth's hand, pulling her into the most erratic and quick hug she had ever felt before the girl jumped around with her hands clasped excitedly.

Tooth smiled at how ecstatic the girl was before the sudden though dawned upon her. "But how did you get the tooth to call me?" She asked, gesturing to the forgotten tooth now resting upon the window sill.

The dark haired teen raised a hand. "Dat would be mine." He managed through his fingers pressing the cotton into his bleeding gums before turning to the red-head. "You owe me big time." He said, then pointing to the fairy on her shoulder. "And you owe me a quarter."

_**Yaaaay!**_

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	24. Chapter 24

_**Okay, this took me FOREVER so you are all going to read it and LIKE it!**_

_**Just kidding, but I do hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. **___

"I don't know guys, what if North's still angry about the missing doll thing?" Jack asked tentatively. Sandy and Bunny had made their ways over to the brown house as soon as Eden and Tooth had been introduced, sending Baby Tooth flitting away to get the others and find a way to tell North, the only guardian left who still didn't know about Eden.

"We can bring it and give it back." Eden suggested, sitting down on the couch next to Daniel who was pocketing the quarter the Baby Tooth had just handed him. Tooth and Sandy had taken to hovering above the carpet whilst Bunny sat back on the floor. Jack sat in the armchair facing the rest of the group, Baby Tooth sitting on his shoulder.

"Ugh! Why are we even doing this? Isn't there another way to tell North without actually taking Eden to the Pole?" Jack asked, flinching slightly at Eden's hurt expression. "I'm just saying that dragging her into the workshop filled with anxious and not to mention _huge_ Yetis is the best way to tell North about all of this." He corrected, seeing his friend sigh in comfortable acceptance of the thought.

Bunny shook his head. "Sorry Mate, but we're running out of options, if we wait any longer it will be too late, if this thing really is after you two, waiting longer to tell North will only put you in more danger."

Sandy, who had been watching the conversation with great interest nodded in agreement. As soon as Sandy and Bunny had arrived via tunnels or sand-plane, they had begun a plan to tell North in an instant. Unfortunately for Jack, the plan they had settled upon was to actually _bring Eden to the North Pole._

Jack didn't usually question the ideas of the other guardians, they were all older than him and much more experienced with the large burly man than he was, but just the thought of dragging the dragon-girl down to the Pole and show North didn't seem like the best option.

He was afraid one of the Yetis would think her an intruder and try to throw her out, and judging by the fact that Eden could barely handle the slight chill of Burgess and melted snow on contact, he didn't think that throwing the girl out into the cold of the North Pole would be the best for her.

He also feared what North would think once he found out that all of the other Guardians had found out about the dragon-girl before him. Would he be angry? Hurt? Jack saw the Guardians as a family now. Granted, it was the most misshapen and awkward family in all existence, but everyone had their role in Jack's mind.

Bunny was the annoying older brother who Jack could pester for hours on end and actually _build_ a relationship with the high tempered Pooka. Tooth was the overprotective mother who couldn't take her eyes off the boy if he ever seemed in any sort of trouble. Sandy was his understanding uncle, or possibly even a close cousin, the guardian he could spend the most time with without getting over stimulated and having to leave. And then there was North. North was like a father to Jack, his large open embrace that could've crushed bones if he wanted to.

And he knew the other Guardians thought of him as family too. The younger brother, the friend… the son.

How would North feel if he knew that his son hadn't told him about the Dragon but instead all of the other guardians? Then again the only guardian he had actually told about Eden was Tooth, Bunny and Sandy had been able to figure it out on their own and were only stopped from telling North by Jack.

Eden watched as Jack's shoulders slumped, his blue eyes looked as if they were staring at something far away when they were merely looking down at the floor in a look of defeat.

The other guardians looked at each other, exchanging worried glances among one another. "Jack, if you're worried about anyone getting hurt, we'll make sure Eden doesn't get attacked by any of the Yetis." Tooth explained, tilting her head to the side and trying o get Jack's eyes to meet hers.

Sandy stared at Jack intently before summoning a few sand shaped above his head. A picture of a compass with an arrow pointing at the top, _North, _and an angry face with an 'X' through it appeared above Sandy's feathery hair.

Bunny nodded in understanding whilst Eden and Daniel merely stared at the man in both confusion and awe. "Sandy's right mate, North won't be angry with you either, he'll understand why you kept it a secret."

Eden bit her lip, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, obviously feeling a bit out of the loop as the spirits in the room spoke of her as if she weren't even in the room. That wasn't exactly the thing that had her bothered though. It was mainly the fact they were talking about her and the mess she had unknowingly created.

Because of her, Jack was in danger and apparently this North person and the young winter spirit had an unspoken bond of which was slowly falling apart because of her. She couldn't help but feel guilty, like curling in on herself and simply disappearing from the room to leave Jack in peace with his family that she was unmistakably tearing apart by forcing Jack to betray their trust.

She felt something nudge her in the side and looked up out of her daze to see Daniel's concerned face. Oh no, she must've looked really out of it to be able to make _Daniel_ put on his serious face.

_You okay? _ He mouthed, placing one of his hands on her knee.

Eden nodded, putting on one of her fake grins that, although she kept using it, never seemed to work. _Fine. _She mouthed back, looking away towards the conversation among the other spirits before he could question her further.

Jack looked up from the apparently interesting part of the carpet to meet Eden's green eyes. He pressed his lips together, deep in thought before finally nodding. "You're right, we have to do this." He said, giving into the other guardians who had apparently been pushing him to the verge of not going through with the plan whilst Eden was lost in her thoughts.

Her troubles fell instantly from her mind. "We're going to the North Pole?" She asked happily.

"Oh boy." Daniel cringed away as the excitement practically emanated off of the dragon-girl in waved of enthusiasm.

"Like, into the workshop with all of the toys and the elves and the presents and-" Eden stopped herself short as the realization dawned upon her. Everyone was staring at her in complete surprise. Eden's giddy smile slipped off of her face, being replaced with a smirk of indifference. "I mean, yeah. North Pole, cool." She tried, only to get a burst of barking laughter from Daniel.

Bunnymund stood up from his crouched position on the living room floor and smiled. "Alright then, let's get." He declared, much to Jack's astonishment.

"Wait. NOW?" He asked, leaping up from his position in the armchair.

Bunnymund just smiled, obviously amused by the winter child's reaction. His eyes trailed over to Eden who had now stood up from her spot on the couch along with Daniel, ready to leave to the North Pole and meet the famous Santa Clause. She flinched instinctively.

Even though she and the rabbit had made an unspoken truce about not attacking each other, (not that she would stand a chance against the Pooka) Eden couldn't help but feel on edge whenever the giant bunny looked at her, it was as if he was just waiting for her to make a move so he could pin her down or throw one of those boomerangs that he always kept so close at hand at her.

His features fell a bit, faltering at the girl's sudden drawback before turning back to the surprised winter spirit. "Yup, now." A small devilish smile crept upon his determined furry face. "Buckle up." His foot tapped against the ground thrice and a hole large enough to swallow all of the occupants of the room whole… which it did.

…

North had been pacing about the workshop insistently for the past few hours, happily munching on the cookies that Yetis and the occasional elf walked by with. He wasn't going to deny it, the man was a complete workaholic, not as bad as Tooth of course, no one could beat her when it came to work ethnic, but he took pride in how hard he worked himself of his Christmas preparations.

He couldn't hold himself away from his designing and overlooking of toys throughout his workshop for more than a day or so, and even then the large man had new ideas and designs swirling about his mind the entire time.

A couple of elves scurried by, arms full of miscellaneous parts that they had most likely picked off of the ground from underneath the Yeti's workspaces, to their corner of the workshop where all of the elves often gathered to create their masterpieces.

North smiled to himself as the Elves in the dreaded corner of which the Yetis had often avoided due to the many explosions caused by the curious creatures had piled their parts together. A few of the elves had pieced through, bringing up a random objet, inspecting it, and then slipping it onto the creation they were making.

North shook his head, looking back to the workshop as the yetis ran about, making more gifts for the next year to come. He inspected the robot toys, unicorns, just about every toy a child could dream of, no wonder Jack had tried to break into the workshop before.

The man sighed at the thought of the winter spirit. It hadn't been a secret that Jack had something to do with the missing doll and somehow, North knew that it had tied back to the mysterious dragon as well. He had practically dropped the issue with the doll as soon as he had figured out it was Jack.

Yes, he had worked hard on the doll's intricate details and beautiful clothes, but Jack wouldn't simply take the thing just to take it. Guilt was written clearly on the boy's face, so much that North couldn't seem to bring himself to confronting the spirit about the matter at hand.

Jack didn't have many possessions, in fact, besides the gifts that the Guardians had given him for Christmas, he didn't think that Jack had any possessions to call his own. The staff, he concluded, did not count as a possession, it was part of Jack, you can't exactly call it a possession as much as one can call their hand their possession.

So North let it slide. Allowing the boy to keep the doll, if he hadn't returned it, it must've been for a good reason. He could feel it… in his belly.

A sudden rumbling in the ground beneath him brought North out of his thoughts. Yetis began garbling frantically, trying to keep toys from falling off of their respective places on the tables whilst Elves scurried about in panic.

North merely folded his arms, glaring angrily at the large rabbit who had just hopped out of the large hole in the middle of his workshop. "Bunny!" North shouted angrily. "I thought I said no tunnels in workshop. It could ruin toys!"

Bunny merely rolled his eyes. "Sorry mate, but couldn't let the others freeze out there now could we?"

North raised an eyebrow before looking down at the still open hole in the center of his factory to see both Tooth and Sandy float out, both a bit dizzy from the trip in the tunnels. The next thing to catch his eye was the unmistakable white hair of Jack Frost.

North opened his mouth, ready to greet the winter spirit back to the Pole when he was stopped short when he saw the boy lean down and bring up two more people. The first, North recognized instantly. The boy had believed in the Guardians far into his teens and was barely balancing between the verge of the Naughty and Nice list.

The girl, North did not know, but she did make North's jaw drop in awe. She was an exact representation of his lost doll. The red hair, the green eyes, even the pale complexion matched perfectly with North's lost doll.

His blue eyes trailed to the amused expressions of the other guardians. "What are they doing here?" He whispered harshly at Bunny.

"Ya better ask him mate." Bunny said, pointing to the startled winter spirit. Jack froze, looking at North with worried eyes.

"Jack?" North asked simply, looking at the two extras in the room. The boy looked down at the Elves gathering around his feet fearfully, using his foot to push them away from him. The girl on the other hand just gawked in awe at the sheer size of the workshop, smiling in wonder at the flying planes that whizzed by her head.

"Um…" Jack began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "You know how we were looking for the dragon?" He asked. North nodded tentatively. Where was this going? "That's her." He finished plainly, pointing over to the wide eyed redhead over to the side.

"What?!"

_**YAAAAAAY! North knows.**_

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	25. Chapter 25

_**NORTH!**_

_**Oh and Happy really late Easter!**_

_**Sorry, I meant to post this last Sunday but my computer broke down… I think I have gremlins in my house because my TV stopped working this morning and my sister's iPod deleted all of her music… either that or some of North's elves have been playing with my electronics…**_

North merely stared at the newcomer, trying to take it all in. Had Jack just said that the dragon was _in_ the work shop? He looked up to face the other guardians to see sheepish smiles and darting eyes. Did they not just hear the winter spirit? The dragon was in the workshop.

Looking at the girl, North could tell that Bunny's theory about the creature taking a human form was correct. He didn't care if the other guardians ignored the problem obviously at hand, he wasn't about to let Jack get himself killed by this thing.

"Wait North!" Jack called out fearfully just as the large man unsheathed his twin swords, aiming them at the small redhead. The girl's large green eyes widened instantly. Giving a high squeak, the dragon-girl ran and hid behind the human boy who stood in front of her protectively as if he could have done anything against the large man and his swords.

North ignored the winter spirit, stomping over to where the dragon-girl was shaking with obvious fear when something blocked his path. "Bunny, out of the way." He ordered, grabbing the Pooka by the shoulder and pushing him to the side aggressively. Was Bunny trying to _protect_ this thing?

The large rabbit didn't move, holding North's hand to keep the burly man from progressing on his sudden rampage through the workshop. "Hold up Mate, it's not what you think." He explained, using one of his furry grey paws to ease North's clenched fists back to his sides. The dragon's wide eyes never left the swords.

North looked up at the Pooka, raising a bushy eyebrow in slight annoyance, did he know what this was? They had gotten the dragon to the North Pole, the very creature that wanted their Jack _dead_. So why were the other Guardians protecting it?

Clenching his jaw tightly, North tuned to face Jack who somehow looked more pale than usual. The winter spirit flinched instantly, looking up at the man with a guilty smile. "Jack?" North started, motioning towards the dragon-girl who had begun to look about the workshop in wonder yet again as if seeing a man charging at her with twin swords had never even crossed her mind, seeming suddenly oblivious to the conversation centering about her.

Jack cleared his throat, his eyes flickering down to the floor and his staff bumping against his knee steadily with panic. "Um, okay so you know how we made that deal where I wouldn't leave the Pole for a week?" He started, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. North nodded. "Well I snuck out." He finished, so quickly that North wasn't quite sure he had caught it all at first.

"What?!" North cried, looking to all the other guardians for the same reaction only to see that they looked perfectly accepting of the news. Sure jack wasn't one to usually follow the rules, but this was just ridiculous. The boy had snuck out with a blood thirsty killer after him and the others merely sat there watching, as if Jack had already told them before him.

North's face dropped and the swords in his hands faltered, dropping several inches as the fact that all of the other guardians had been trusted with this news except for him. Did jack really not see him as trustworthy enough to tell him this news? Or was he afraid he would be in trouble. That thought was almost worse. Just the thought of having Jack fear him made North's heart want to burst with sorrow and guilt.

Tooth must've noticed the sadness filling the old man's heart because she fluttered forward and placed a small hand on his shoulder. "North we didn't know until just recently either." Tooth explained softly, gesturing towards the others with her extra hand.

Sandy nodded in agreement and Bunny stepped forward as well. "Yeah, we figured it out ourselves mate, the only reason he told Tooth was because we forced him to." He explained. Jack winced at this.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Another voice had joined in on the conversation and all guardians and dragon turned to the human boy as he grumbled, feeling a spot on his jaw line with is hand as if their conversation had suddenly reminded him of a forgotten pain. Both Jack and the dragon-girl rolled their eyes at this.

North shook his head and looked back at the fidgeting winter spirit. "Jack, what do you mean 'snuck out'?" He asked warily.

Jack looked down at his hands, picking the wood on his staff nervously. It seemed like hours before the boy actually opened his mouth to speak. "I was tired of you guys treating me like I wasn't part of the group." He mumbled before finally looking up to meet North's sad eyes. The other three guardians shied back in guilt.

"So I left to look for the dragon and found Eden instead." Jack said a bit louder, gesturing to the redhead, catching her attention and pulling her away from the mechanical jellyfish floating just above her. She smiled sheepishly, raising a small hand as if to wave towards the burly man in front of her.

North looked away quickly, seeing the girl slump slightly in the corner of his eye. "Instead?" He pressed, crossing his massive tattooed arms and eyeing the winter spirit.

Jack nodded quickly at this. "Well Eden _is_ a dragon, but she doesn't want to kill me. She's my friend." He finished, eyeing North with a suddenly dangerous glare which startled the man, seeing the boy avoiding his gaze only to turn in a matter of seconds and stare at him threateningly like this.

The dragon-girl stepped forward, seeming to startle everyone except for the human boy who merely crossed his arms as if he was about to sit back and watch a show. "I wouldn't hurt Jack, honestly. There's something else out there." The girl said, and it was then North noticed just how nervous the girl was. Despite her straightened back and confident voice, he could see her knees quivering under pressure and her fingers were tightly knotted together in anticipation.

Her bright green eyes darted across the room, landing on each of the spirits and every toy littering the floor before finally freezing at North. "Then what was the message from Manny about?" North asked, still wary of the stranger in his workshop. "If what girl says is true, then what did fire message mean?"

Jack shrugged sheepishly. "Well…" He began, turning to the redhead.

"There's another dragon." She stated flatly.

North raised an eyebrow, did she really think North was this gullible, to allow this monster into his workshop and tell him that there was a second dragon? It was hard enough to believe that there was one dragon not yet extinct, but two? How dense did she really think the guardians were?

North turned to the others for encouragement and was absolutely baffled to find that they all looked as if they bought the entire story. Seeing as though none of his fellow guardians was going to bring up the issue, North pressed on.

"How? Dragon's are supposed to be extinct, one dragon I can see being overlooked, but two?" North scoffed, raising his swords once more.

The girl stumbled back a bit, almost tripping over an elf who had wandered in with a plate of cookies which the human boy had instantly grabbed four cookies off of, shoving them into his mouth and giving a tentative thumbs up to the elf who merely stared in awe at the boy who ate one of the elf-made cookies.

The girl shook her head, red curls tumbling off of her shoulders. "I don't know. I thought I was the only one until a few years ago." She said.

"What happened a few years ago?" Tooth asked, suddenly interested.

"She tried to kill Eden." The human stated, flinging a thumb at his friend before taking a bite from another burnt and undetectable flavored cookie. He then turned his gaze to his feet where three of the elves had gathered around, holding up new mangled and crumbling cookies up to the boy. "What are you doing?" He asked indigently, trying to throw one of them who had clung to his pants.

"How come?" Bunny asked as Sandy materialized a golden question mark above his head. Apparently they didn't know everything about the dragon-girl, which made North a little more relaxed.

The girl shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Tooth repeated.

"How could ya not know?" Bunny said suspiciously. It was obvious that North wasn't the only one who didn't trust this girl.

"Sorry, never thought to ask her as she tried to tear out my throat." She retorted, hands flinging up in mock humor while Jack chuckled. "All I know is that she hates me and apparently Jack now." She finished, seeming to have relaxed a bit since she had first arrived at the Pole.

"So… what now?" Jack asked.

North eyed the girl once more. Looking at the wide green eyes, he searched for anything that could possibly be threatening. But all that the man could find in those wide green eyes was worry, worry of what though? Was she afraid the guardians would turn their backs on her, of course that had been North's first response, but now that he could truly see her for what she was… she was nothing but a child.

North sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand before turning back to jack. "You should all stay here." He declared.

"WHAT!?" Bunny cried in pure shock. The small amount of hope that had fluttered upon the girl's face fell instantly at the rabbit's response. Bunny stepped back, a look of guilt flushing his face. "Not that I have anything against them bein here." He caught himself quickly, looking a bit more relieved when Eden looked up at him. "But they're not invisible like us mate. They've got people who will notice them if they go missin."

"Well how long are we proposing they stay?" Tooth asked.

North shook his head. "As soon as this threat disappears." He answered.

"They're on Winter break anyway right?" Jack asked, hope filling his eyes to the brim.

Eden nodded. "Only for the next week or so though."

"That'll have to do for now, but won't someone notice you're gone?" Asked Bunny.

"Well, my mom would but-"

"She can come too." Jack exclaimed. "I mean having a dragon as a daughter probably means she believes anyway right?"

Eden nodded, a small smile escaping her lips and curling upward toward her eyes. "What about Daniel? Does he have to stay too?" She asked.

Tooth fluttered forward. "If the dragon is really as ferocious as you say then I think it's best that anyone who could be used against you is here and safe."

"Will anyone notice he's gone?"

Eden shook her head. "He's at my house all the time anyway." She said. She turned to her friend for confirmation to find nothing where Daniel had once been standing. A look of confusion replaced the excitement in an instant as she took a full 360 look about the room. "Where is Daniel?"

The large wooden door to the room slammed open and the human boy in question came running through, slamming it shut behind him and leaning against the dark wood. Upon seeing the six pairs of eyes staring back at him, not to mention the yetis who had turned from their work stations at the loud bang, he stared fearfully at North. "What kind of elves are those Dude? They tried to electrocute me!"

North chuckled. "You test elf cookies, you test elf toys." He explained to the boy's horror.

A loud bang sounded against the other side of the door and the boy scrambled away and ducked behind the redhead. "Those are _not_ elves, they're demons!"

_**YAY!**_

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	26. Chapter 26

_**YEAYUH! HIT 100 REVIEWS WOOHOO!**_

_**Sorry this took so long but I had a CP that I was working on for the past month presentation wise and I had to strip myself of my fanfiction loves to work on it since it's a graduation requirement here in Olympia. But I presented on Friday (AND PASSED 4/4 YAAAAY!) so here's my chapter to make it up to you guys for being so patient with me!**_

_**BTW, I will update MUCH sooner for my next chapter and it is going to get a lot more interesting **___

Six hours had passed since North and Eden had been properly introduced and now that the three new guests were settled at the pole, the guardians decided it would be best to stay as well to make sure that none of them tried anything while staying. Both Jack and Daniel had left earlier to get Eden's mother and convince her to come to the pole, making Eden stay in case she had tried to turn on Jack while the guardians weren't looking.

In fact, all of the guardians (besides Jack) hadn't let the redheaded girl anywhere without one of them secretly spying on her from around the corner. Sandy, being the first of the older four guardians to find out about the dragon-girl and their own winter spirit's friendship seemed the least willing to stalk the girl as such and took to conversing with the older woman who had come to the Pole for the time.

Bunny's ears perked up and he sniffed the air again. It had been an hour since anyone had caught sight of the girl and he feared that she was plotting something secretly while the guardians hadn't been paying attention. Even Daniel, who never seemed to have left the girl's side was puzzled to where his friend had gone off to.

Bunnymund wrinkled his nose at the sudden smell of fire, not smoke, just fire. It had a very distinct smell that seemed more crisp than the thick choking fog that smoke would allow. The Pooka turned on his heels, bounding down the hallway only to find himself in front of the doors to North's main workshop.

The rabbit huffed, lifting his ears again to try and catch any sign of the girl. There was no way she would just waltz into the workshop with all of the Yetis and Elves practically the body guards of the guardians in the North Pole. But there was no mistaking that scent, the girl was most definitely in that room. The rabbit pressed a paw to the door to open it, just thinking about the horrifying scene he would find. Would the toys be burned into charred dust? The entire floor burning in hot red flames and filling with thick black smoke?

The doors lurched open at Bunny's last thought, subconsciously holding his breath as the main floor came into view to reveal the same hectic workshop as ever but with one addition. The redhead was sitting at one of the stools, staring wide eyed at the toys placed in front of her by the working Yetis.

One opened his furry palm to reveal a smaller version of the floating Jellyfish that she had been staring at earlier. Eden leaned forward in amazement and lit up with a bright smile as the little green jellyfish lifted out of the Yeti's hand and floated lazily over to her. The Yeti smiled triumphantly and leaned back a bit whilst a couple of the others bustling about the room took a moment to smile happily at the toy tester in the workshop.

"It's beautiful." Bunny leaned forward to hear Eden whisper in an awestruck voice. The Yeti who had made the small jellyfish gestured to the girl and grunted encouragingly. Eden's eyes widened and flickered to the burly beast in front of her. "It's for me?" She asked, pressing a hand to her chest in bewilderment.

The Yeti hardly even had a chance to nod before the girl had practically thrown herself at the fuzzy beast in front of her and whisper about a million 'thank you's' as far as Bunny could count.

Bunny crouched lower, suddenly ashamed of thinking that the girl was burning the place down or plotting to destroy the winter spirit. He peered over the edge again only to see that the girl was racing up the steps and towards him. The Pooka stiffened instantly, hitting his head on one of the lower boards as his legs propelled the upper half of his body soaring up.

Eden caught sight of him and slowed her running to a fast stumbling walk, her smile faltering and her hands cupping over the new toy in her hands protectively. "Um… hi Bunny." She croaked, giving a halfhearted smile that didn't meet her eyes. Bunny deflated quickly. The girl didn't trust him.

Of course he had never really given her a reason to in the first place having been so rude to her during their encounters and trying to skin her alive the first time he had met her. Guilt piled up on top of the rabbit's heart, aching even more so than the bump forming on his head.

The Pooka smiled as sincerely as possible, crouching down to make himself look less intimidating to the small girl who was craning her neck to look up at his confused eyes. "Hey Mate, enjoyin the workshop?" He asked, trying to built her back up until he could see that bright smile that he had seen her wear when with the Yetis on the first floor of the workshop.

Eden nodded, a smile flickering upon her lips. It was small but genuine and that was all it took to release the crushing pain off of the rabbit's aching conscience. "Yeah, and look what the Yeti's made for me." She said, he voice quivering but this time with excitement rather than fear. Her cupped hands opened to reveal the small green jellyfish which floated up from her palm, hovering just above her finger tips.

Bunny smiled at the girl's anticipation. "Well you're lucky Mate, the Yeti's are very particular of who they allow to have gifts apart from Christmas Day, they must really like ya." He said, hoping the dragon-girl wouldn't shy away from him.

She didn't. In fact, her smile brightened even more. "Really?! Because after the way you all reacted to me being friends with Jack I thought they were just trying to keep tabs on me or something to make sure I wasn't planning Jack's doomsday." The words seemed to spill out faster than Bunny's sensitive ears could manage to pick up. She almost breathed the entire sentence out in one quick sigh but passed it off as a lighthearted laugh, allowing the mechanical toy to float back down into her caressing hands.

Bunny's ears flopped back and his green eyes filled with shame. Did she really care that much that the Guardians had reacted the ways that they had? He shook his head, trying to make the memory of his own rude introduction leave his mind.

"Hey Mate?" Eden turned around to face the large rabbit. "I'm sorry." He finished, looking hopefully at the girl who was still standing straight as an arrow and shifting her feet as if to bolt o the door she kept on eyeing incase Bunny made any move to attack her.

"For what?" She asked cautiously, cocking her head to the side like a dog would in confusion.

"Whaddaya mean 'for what?'!" The pooka exclaimed, sending the girl stumbling backwards in shock, the bright smile falling completely out of her expression as it transformed into pure terror. The rabbit took a deep breath, trying o calm himself down enough to speak in a softer voice. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you." He said finally, looking down in shame.

He had half expected the girl to turn on her heels and run away or shout at him for being so hostile, but she did the thing he had least expected her to do. She burst out laughing, covering her mouth with one hand and letting out a choked giggle.

"What are ya laughing at?" The rabbit asked, irritation and relief both littering his voice.

"I thought you were angry with me." The girl answered, finally stifling her laughs down to a quivering smile that threatened to burst with a new batch of snickers. "Sorry, I just thought that I was doing something completely wrong and I guess it just sort of startled me."

Bunny stared at her, completely bewildered by her answer. "But- but you should be mad at _me._" He began, causing the redhead to raise a light eyebrow in confusion. "I thought that you were going to kill Jack and all of us without even thinking. I almost attacked you for goodness sake!" He finished.

It was then that he realized, he wanted Eden to be angry at him! He deserved it for not giving the girl the time of day to explain her story. In fact, if Jack hadn't been there to keep Bunny at bay the day he found the winter spirit with the dragon-girl, he didn't think he would've stopped to listen. He would have full on attacked the poor girl and even with the human boy standing as her protective friend, that was all he was to a Pooka, a human. And a human wouldn't have been able to do much against a Pooka, especially one who was thinking as irrationally as Bunny was.

Eden merely shook her head. "You were just looking out for Jack, no harm done." She smiled.

"Um, I think you missed that part where I almost attacked you." Bunny pointed out flatly.

"Hey, you were trying to protect Jack, I personally think it's kinda sweet that you were willing to take on a dragon in order to protect him, even if I wasn't actually the one trying to kill him." She answered, giving the Pooka a lighthearted smile that just barely pulled at the left side of her lips and made her eyes crinkle up.

"Leave me alone!" Both Eden and Bunny turned to where the loud voice had come from to see Daniel stumbling out of the hallway where at least three of the elves had clung to his jeans and about a hundred more following close behind with plates of what were supposed to be cookies and toys.

He looked up pleadingly at the two. "I thought elves were supposed to be cute!" He cried, racing behind Eden, pulling the remaining elves off of his legs and chucking them across the workshop where they landed on unsuspecting Yetis who turned to glare as the boy.

"I think they're cute." Said Eden, reaching down with her free hand to grab one by its pointy hat and gently turning it the other way.

"E, no offense, but I could place a Tasmanian Devil in your arms and you would say it's cute." Daniel countered pointedly.

Eden laughed, reaching over to pry another one of the vicious elves with a startlingly sharp 'toy' in its hands off of her friends pant leg. "Oh! Look what I got!" She cried, making Daniel flinch with her sudden outburst of energy. The redhead reached down and opened her hands, revealing the mechanic jellyfish that the furry giants had made her.

Daniel stared at it quizzically before a smug smile lined his lips, making Bunny shudder. The only other person he had ever seen make that face was Jack and that never ended well.

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be my squishy."

Bunny raised an eyebrow. "…what?"

Eden's hands clamped down on the jellyfish, shielding it from Daniel's reaching hands. "My squishy." She said, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.

Daniel looked as if he were about to retort when he was cut off by a sharp pain in his thigh. "Yowch!" He cried, looking down at his leg to see that another Elf had clambered upon his pants and was gnawing on it rather brutally. "What the- get off!" he shouted, shaking his leg only for the elf to dig its tiny claws into him to keep ahold. "Seriously, is there some sort of elf repellant I can use? Or like, a prybar?" He asked.

Bunny chuckled at this. "well they-"

He was suddenly cut off when the massive doors of the workshop flew open, banging hard against the stone walls and bouncing back, slamming hard behind North, who had just walked in. The three turned to face the man as well as many of the Yetis down below and the elf who had been chewing frantically on the boy's leg (who stopped immediately after seeing the big man and dropped onto the floor rather unceremoniously before taking off and doing a suicide jump onto one of the Yeti's below.)

"North mate, what wrong?" Bunny asked, seeing the rather angry and frightened expression on the guardian of wonder.

"Something's wrong, Manny wants to speak with us." He explained through harsh ragged breaths as if he had outright sprinted into the workshop.

Bunny nodded, hopping over to his comrade and leaving the two guests behind. He looked up at his friend, waiting for North to join him on the way to the globe room only to see the guardian staring intently at Eden, which she mustv'e noticed seeing as though her eyes became immediately twice the size they already were and her cupped hands tightened around 'Squishy.'

"All of us." North added before turning and making his way out of the room.

The atmosphere was left hanging in an awkward silence only broken by Daniel. "Wait… who?"

_**OKAY major disclaimer for every single movie I have quoted or referenced to in this story… I can't even count how many I've made so I'm just gonna let you know that all I own are Daniel and Eden, absolutely NO OTHER CHARACTERS!**_


	27. Chapter 27

_**So… I'm alive…**_

_**Anyway. The real reason that I didn't update is because (besides being lazy) I had another HTTYD story that was being plagiarized and also had decided that writing three stories at the same time so I decided to finish that one first. But now I'm back so here's the next chapter.**_

"Waddaya mean all of us?" Bunny asked, cocking his head in confusion.

North turned to Eden, raising an arm and waving her over to him with his hand. The redhead inched over to him cautiously, still holding onto the mini-jellyfish tightly in her hands as if the man would take it away from her at any moment. "The Man in the Moon wants to speak to Eden as well as the Guardians." He explained, dropping one hand onto the girl's shoulder, making her jump in surprise and stare at the hand awkwardly, not knowing how to react.

"Wait… who are we talking about again?" Daniel asked, making the others turn to him.

"The Man in the Moon. He's the one who chooses the Guardians, he's one of the greatest protectors of childhood." Bunny explained, looking expectantly at the teenager while he stared off at a random spot in the ceiling, trying to process the new information.

"Wait… so can I come too, or is it some sort of secret Moon-Man meeting that I'm not allowed to see?" He asked.

North let out a loud chuckle, taking his spare arm and clapping the highly confused boy on the shoulder, making his stumble and almost lose his breath at the force of the meaty hand landing so harshly on the miniscule by comparison boy's back.

"You may come, my boy." He chuckled.

Daniel gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I thought I'd be stuck with the demons again." He said, before releasing himself from the large man's hold and grabbing his friend's hand, pulling it away from its protective grasp on 'Squishy.'

"Ah, I see the Yetis have treated you well. Takes much trust for Yeti's to give toys before Christmas." The man noted.

Eden smiled shyly before turning towards the door, awaiting to be led to the Globe room. Bunny hopped forward first, wondering himself just what the Man in the Moon wanted the girl for. This would be the third time he had contacted the Guardians within the past year. Any contact with the Man in the Moon was rarely made within at least a decade from one another. To have three meetings with him within less than a year… something big must be happening.

After a few minutes of meandering down the hallways (it would've been quicker if not for the two teens getting distracted by every open door on the way there,) they came upon the large Globe room where the other Guardians were waiting for them, staring up at the large skylight in the vaulted ceiling. Jack turned around as the large wooden doors slammed behind the four, a smile of relief lighting his face… along with what looked like nervousness.

Bunny was taken aback. He had never seen Jack nervous before. He hadn't even been the least bit nervous when the Guardians had first received the message in the fire about the dragon prophesized to destroy the young winter spirit. So what made him so nervous now? Now that he was surrounded by friends and family. The boy turned from his friends and back up to where the full moon was slowly coming into view, wincing slightly when the high beams shown through the open window and onto the other Guardians. Bunny was taken aback by a slight pang of guilt. It was the first time in three-hundred years the boy had been 'talked to' by Manny not including the fire message.

Bunny growled under his breath, suddenly angry with the Man in the Moon. Despite the fact that he most likely had reason to ignore the boy like he had, Jack was obviously hurt and quite scarred by the sudden attention after an eternity of being invisible to the world. The rabbit couldn't help but be angry at the Moon, not to mention himself and the other Guardians for ignoring the boy's cries for attention after all those years of merely trying to gain a friend.

He smiled to himself, seeing Eden walk up behind him and show off her very first toy from Santa (that was actually made specifically for her and not stolen by a certain winter spirit.) Now, not only did Jack have a family of the Guardians, sworn to protect him whether he wanted it or not, but he had two new believers, two new friends.

Bunny hopped up next to Tooth, giving her one of his half smiles that always made her giggle. "Do you know what Manny wants us for this time?" He whispered to her, suddenly feeling like a teenager in high school trying to keep the teacher from hearing them.

Tooth shook her head, sending colorful feathers swaying from side to side. "I'm not sure, but it must be important. He never makes contact with us more than twice a decade, much less three times in one year."

Bunny nodded, his long ears flopping along behind. "I hear ya, it's been buggin me too. Makes me worry about what kind of threat there could be this time." He responded, gesturing with a quick nod of the head to where the three teenagers were joking about (mainly Eden and Jack tormenting Daniel with his new chronic fear of elves.)

Tooth stifled a chuckle, smiling sweetly back at the rabbit. "Whatever it is I know we can get through it together. Jack may be independent, but he's by far the most loyal and powerful of all of us, especially with two teenage believers, that's some of the strongest belief one can have besides that of an adult." She pointed out.

A chiming sound drew everyone's attention from their huddled conversations to Sandy who was fruitlessly trying to gain everyone's attention with the soft hushed sounds of his dreamsand images. Smiling contently to himself that he now had the others' attention, the small man made a figure of the crescent moon above his head before pointing enthusiastically towards the open skylight.

Everyone turned to where he was pointing to see the full moon come fully into view, shining its calm yet bright moonbeams upon everyone in the room. Jack visibly winced at this, looking down at his staff as if to distract himself while Daniel and Eden stared at themselves with awe at how the moonlight shone off their pale skin.

"Manny." North began, stepping forward, further into the light. "What is big news, it is quite an experience for all of us to speak with you thrice in one year, no?"

Daniel snickered, turning to his best friend. "He's talking to a rock." He whispered, gulping back chortles with each word. Eden just shook her head, holding back a smile and rolling her eyes apologetically while Jack laughed openly.

The laughing stopped in its tracks when the moonbeams glowed brighter before compressing themselves into the shape of a small circle upon the guardian's pedestal which had just been revised to its fifth guardian symbol of Jack Frost.

Everyone inched closer to get a better view of the moonbeams as a shadow began to take effect, creating the moon's message upon the floor. An image of a dragon appeared along with Jack's silhouette and a very familiar curly haired girl.

"It's the same message from the fireplace." Jack said confusedly, an eyebrow raised.

Tooth shook her head. "This one has Eden in it." She pointed out, gesturing to the second silhouette next to jack's. "Which means you're both in danger of the other dragon."

"Does it really mean that we're in danger though?" Eden asked shyly, her hands quivering, the jellyfish in her hands shaking violent with the motion.

The dragon shape charged at the two teens, making the images falter. "I guess that answers that question." Daniel commented quietly, receiving a harsh elbow to the ribcage. "Ow! I'm starting to get bruises on my liver because of you, you know." He responded, rubbing his side sorely.

"I understand why she wants to kill me, but what does she want with Jack?" Eden asked, ignoring her friend's complaining and staring quizzically back at the platform. "I mean it's not like she could really gain anything from that."

No one made a sound, just stared at the girl with horrified expressions. "What exactly do ya mean by that mate?" Bunny asked cautiously, afraid of what the answer could be. The others nodded stiffly in agreement.

The girl broke her gaze with the shadows playing on the pedestal. "What?" She asked, as if it what she had said was completely normal for an answer.

"What do you mean by 'she doesn't have anything to gain' from jack? What does she have to gain from you?" He clarified.

The girl's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, well if she killed me she would gain… immortality." She said, barely murmuring the last part.

"What?!" Tooth cried. "What do you mean by that?"

Eden took a step back in surprise before clearing her throat. "Well since we're the last two of our kind, the last one alive, in order to save it from going extinct completely, the last of us lives an immortal life. That's why she's been hunting me all this time, she wants to be the last of us to gain immortality and is afraid I'll get in the way of that if I end up outliving her in the end."

As soon as the dragon-girl had stopped talking, the room fell completely silent. Nothing except for the random chiming bells atop the elves hats (which made Daniel twitch to no end) made a sound, even the heavy footfalls of the Yetis seemed to die down after she explained herself.

"How come I didn't think of that?" Bunny mumbled to himself, breaking the silence. That was how he had become immortal and chosen by the man in the Moon _**(A/N)**_

North shook his head as if shaking away the shock from himself. "So at least we know what girl wants." He said.

"We know what she wants with Eden, no Jack." Tooth pointed out. "Why would Jack be in danger too?"

"Maybe for makin it so bloody cold all the time." Bunny suggested, glancing at Jack pointedly. The boy merely stuck out his tongue. "Oh real mature Frostbite."

"Um guys." Everyone stopped their bickering and turned to Eden who held out one hand, pointing it down at the circle of moonbeams. Tooth gasped.

"Is that… Pitch?" Bunny grew confused, peering over the feathered lady's shoulder to get a better look at the message which was now gaining an extra character in its shadow puppet show. Indeed it was. There, behind the Dragon which was now merely standing and roaring silently at the two teenage shadows, was the very familiar shape of a tall man with long robes and hair blown back much like Tooth's feathers (Although much less attractive on the shadow-man.)

"Hey, I know him!" Eden exclaimed making everybody jump in slight surprise. "That's the Boogey man right?" She asked, still pointing down at the image.

The others nodded slightly with caution and Sandy floated up, making a golden question mark appear above his head.

"How do I know him?" Eden asked. Sandy nodded, clouds of dream sand dusting off with each movement. "Jamie talks about him a lot… and he sometimes appears in my dreams." She finished the last part in a rushed voice as if she could say it fast enough to have the others act as if they hadn't heard it at all. "Sometimes!" She exclaimed, shaking her hands in a 'slow down' gesture when everyone's jaws snapped open at the same time. "I haven't seen him for a while, especially after I met you guys."

Bunny looked down at his large feet in guilt, knowing that the others felt the same way. Having not only left the winter spirit fend for himself for three-hundred years alone in the world, but also a young girl filled with unconventional fear and no wonder, dreams, or hope… it tore them apart from the inside out. The Guardians were supposed to protect children, yet they had completely ignored the two who needed their protection and gifts more than ever. If Pitch had indeed shown himself in the girl's dreams often enough for her to recognize him by a shadow, they must have left her alone for far too long, allowing her to have nightmares on such a common occasion.

"They must have paired up." Said Jack, redirecting the conversation back to the task at hand (wait, Jack directing the conversation back to focus… now Bunny knew they were in trouble.)

"Makes sense da?" North agreed, nodding his head. "If Dragon-lady wants Eden and Pitch wants his revenge on Jack, they have to join forces because neither of them can do tasks on their own."

Eden winced a bit, even thinking of the two that plagues her nightmares the most together to destroy both her and Jack unnerved her to no end. "So what do we do?" She asked shakily.

"Right now, I suggest we keep you two with us Guardians. I don't think it matters whose place you're at, as long as we're able to keep an eye on you two. That way we can make sure that you two aren't in any immediate danger." Bunny suggested.

The other Guardians nodded in agreement before Eden's head snapped up. "Wait, what do you mean by 'whose place'?" She asked quizzically, a sense of excitement emanating off of her.

"Well besides the North Pole there's also the Tooth Palace and the Warren that would both be safe places for you to-"

"Fairy Palace!"

Daniel winced at the sudden shout yet his complexion remained neutral, more annoyed than startled. "Let me guess, a giant palace with eight million of those things flying about." He grumbled, pointing to Baby Tooth who had gone to sit on Jack's shoulder. Tooth nodded, biting her lip. "We're doomed."

_**(A/N) I haven't read the original Guardians books that the movie is based off of, but I have caught on (due to the nine-bajillion fanfictions I've read) that Bunny is the last of his race.**_

_**REEEEEEEEVVVVVVVIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEW!**_


	28. Chapter 28

_**Hey guys sorry for the super duper late update!**_

_**This chapter took me forever! In case you hadn't noticed but I was having major writer's block until yesterday when I actually decided to stop being lazy and start writing again.**_

_**Hope you like the chapter!**_

"This is so amazing! Oh my goodness, look at all of the colorful fairies! Is this place made of real gold?" The fiery red haired girl cried, barely even leaving enough time between phrases to breathe and run to another section of Tooth's bustling palace.

"Is she always this excitable?" Tooth asked Daniel, biting her lip as she watched Eden race from corner to corner of the bright bustling palace. It had only been five minutes since they had left the Pole and the girl already seemed comfortable as ever, cooing at the equally excitable mini-fairies that slowed down as they passed the newcomer before racing off to finish their duties.

The boy shook his head and smiled fondly at his friend. "This is nothing, I went with her and Videre to Disneyland last summer." Tooth raised an eyebrow. "If you get within five feet of her you get smacked and she wouldn't even notice." He explained.

"I think I'm more scared of her than the other dragon right now." Jack concluded, walking up behind the two, the other guardians along with Videre not far behind.

"This is incredible! I can't believe it!" The redhead cried, bouncing up towards the colorful fairy.

"Ah yes, is perfect. You are safe from danger and girl's curiosity is handled." North said, his loud booming voice bouncing and echoing off of the many walls of the palace.

"Oh I just hope everything turns out alright." Tooth said quietly to the other guardians, gesturing toward the excitable redhead now making her way towards where the many baby teeth of the world's children were stored. "I don't want Jack to get hurt." She finished, unconsciously brushing her hand through the boy's hair.

"Don't worry about me Tooth, if there's anyone in need of protection right now I think its Eden, this thing has been hunting her with no stopping and I don't think that teaming up with Pitch will make it any harder for her to get her wish." Jack said, gently pulling Tooth's cupped hand from where it had entangled itself in his mass of white hair.

"Oh, I know it's just that… never mind, I'm sure everything will be fine." Tooth trailed off, shaking her feathery head. To tell the truth, she didn't exactly want the young girl, no matter how innocent she may seem, anywhere near her Jack. It was her fault the youngest Guardian was now in danger and she didn't want them to have anything to do with each other if she could help it.

"Should we stay here?" North asked, gesturing to Bunny and Sandy who both nodded and looked at Tooth expectantly. "We could help keep girl and friend occupied while you work." He offered.

"Please, Eden will be busy for hours on end in a place like this." Daniel cut in. Tooth whirled around, forgetting that the young human teen was still there.

"Daniel's right guys, I can take care of things here." She assured. What Tooth really needed right now was some time to think about just what was going on with the seemingly innocent girl now watching intently as the mini-fairies carried the recently collected baby teeth and placed them in their correctly labeled cases. She knew the girl wasn't evil. In fact she quite liked Eden, she just didn't think she was telling the complete truth and therefore was a threat to her Jack.

"Are ya sure Mate? We can stay and hold down the fort for ya while ya work." Bunny suggested, hopping forward and grabbing her hand to get her attention.

Tooth froze instantly, almost forgetting to keep her wings fluttering in order to keep herself airborne. She pulled back blushing. "Um, no. We're fine here Bunny." She managed, shooting Sandy an irritated glare as he formed a golden heart above his head, making North snort with the threat of laughter.

"Tooth is right." Jack stepped in, saving the fairy from further humiliation. "We can take care of ourselves here Cottontail."

"Why you little-"

"Come Bunny, da boy was just joking, no?" North said, catching the rabbit by his upper arm before he made it to the winter child.

"No." Jack laughed, floating a couple of feet out of reach as the Rabbit started at him again.

"Frost! You-"

"To the North Pole!" North called, slamming his snow globe to the floor and dragging the enraged rabbit behind him through the portal.

"Ha! Kangaroo's too wound up." Jack laughed.

"Well be careful Jack, sooner or later Bunny's going to get you back for all those nasty pranks you pull on him." Tooth warned.

The winter spirit smiled smugly. "Not as long as you're there to capture his attention." He mumbled before taking off after Where Eden and Daniel were.

"What! Jack!"

…

"Look at all of these Teeth!" Eden squealed, tugging Daniel behind her while Jack merely floated above, smiling at how hyperactive the girl was at the moment. "This is incredible, I've never seen so many teeth in my entire life!" She finished, waving at a couple of fairies that came close to inspect the excitable new teenager.

"I take it that you like it here?" Eden whirled around to face the new voice, making Daniel stumble over his own two feet.

Upon seeing Tooth, Eden's grin only got bigger. "Are you kidding, this is the most incredible thing I have even seen! Do you collect everyone's teeth? How do you know they've lost them?"

Tooth smiled sweetly. "Yes, we collect the teeth of every child in the world. The Fairies and I are able to sense whose tooth it is and where they are located, which makes it much easier to collect them."

"Why is it so important that you collect the teeth?" Daniel asked, finally regaining his balance.

"It's not the teeth we collect, it's the memories held inside of them that we collect." Tooth explained, looking at Jack as a throb of déjà vu hit her. Upon seeing the confused looks from the other two teens, Tooth continued. "Each tooth holds the happiest memories of childhood." She explained. "That's why we collect the teeth, in case a child forgets what's important, we can always remind them." She finished, he face falling as soon as she caught sight of Eden.

The girl's eye had dropped to a seemingly exciting spot on the floor. It was then that the fairy realized that the girl had never had any of her baby teeth collected as a child. "Eden, I-"

"It's okay Tooth." She interrupted, looking up and flashing a grin at her. "It wasn't your fault, and I've got along just fine anyhow." She assured her. "Besides, I still have my wisdom teeth right?" She asked jokingly. Tooth smiled.

"Well, now isn't that sweet." A dark voice called.

At that moment, everything froze. Every mini-fairy stopped where they were, all noise dying down until only the sounds of heavy breathing and buzzing wings could be heard.

A dark shadow passed over Tooth. "My my Toothiana, it seems you've rebuilt your beautiful fortress since I last saw it. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it, hm?" The sickingly smooth voice of Pitch Black emanated off the walls of the Palace.

"Pitch!" Jack called angrily, holding his staff up defensively. "Show your face you cowardly-"

"Ah ah ah jack, you wouldn't want to be tainting the mind of a child with that kind of language now would you?" Pitch continued.

Eden gasped, making Tooth and Jack whirl around only to see the girl petrified with fear as the Bogeyman rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. "E!" Daniel cried, reaching to grab his friend back from the shadow man only for them to disappear before he got there. "What! Where?" He backed away angrily, searching the room for any sign of his best friend.

"Pitch!" Shouted Jack. "Get back here you coward!" He threatened, blue frost beginning to light up the end of his staff and leap off into the air.

"I- if you hurt her-" Daniel started, only to be cut off as Pitch appeared above them all upon a ledge. Eden clutched by the wrist and forced back.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of hurting the dear girl." The dark man said, reaching a hand towards Eden's pale face, only to pull back in surprise as she snapped her teeth at him, threatening to bite. Shaking off the surprise, Pitch turned back to those below him.

"Why not?" inquired Jack, shooting a warning blast at the man who merely swerved the attack. "Afraid?"

"No, unfortunately, hurting this dear child is not _my_ job." He continued, grasping Eden's hand tighter. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a delivery to make." He said.

Eden's eyes widened.

"No!" Jack shouted, just as the shadows began to take them once again. He shot one last bolt of ice before the man disappeared entirely, making the shadows recede momentarily as Pitch took in what had just happened.

The moment Eden felt tangible again, she took control, flames climbed up her arm instantly, catching the shadowed man by surprise as he stared down at his now flaming hand. "Dah!" He cried, pulling back from the flames which disappeared once the girl was free from the grip. She took no time in leaping down from the ledge into Jack's open arms before being set back down to the floor where she rushed to Daniel.

"Fine!" Pitch growled, flexing his stinging hand. "You want to this the hard way? You've got it!" He shouted, raising his arms up and summoning the shadows to his side.

"What is this?" Eden asked fearfully, clutching to her friend for support as the darkness spread throughout the palace, causing many frightened shrieks from the fairies who scattered to shelter.

"He can't, he's too weak." Tooth muttered, looking up at Jack who looked equally shocked at the power the Bogeyman was creating.

"I was weak Toothiana. But recovery is always quicker when you have something to fight for." Pitch cackled as the Nightmares began materializing behind him and around the room from the deepest shadows.

"And what's that?" She cried back, arming herself for a fight.

Pitch just smiled. "Revenge."

His arms were thrust down and the mares charged surrounding the four until they had nowhere else to go. Jack shot a few ice bolts at the Nightmares that dared to get close to any of them while tooth swiped at them with her sharp wings.

"Gah!" Tooth turned around to see Daniel on the ground, a mare landing hard on his chest. It reared back again, threatening to crack the skull for a fatal blow when something hit it, launching the mare off of the boy entirely.

Tooth flew over to where Daniel was groaning and despite his obviously broken ribs, trying to sit up. "Daniel, lay back down, you're hurt." She cooed, flapping her wings in one quick motion and dissipating the Nightmare behind her.

"Eden." He groaned, pointing past Tooth to where the Nightmare that had almost killed him had been swept away.

"What?" She cocked her head before realizing that the girl was nowhere in sight. She had been taken by the shadows when they were all distracted. "Jack!" She called. "Jack, they took Eden we have to- oh my…" She stopped in her tracks looking into the fight where a somewhat familiar orange flame caused at least ten mares to burst into dust.

As soon as the dust settled from the air, Tooth gasped. Standing not ten feet away, swishing at the Nightmares with her long green tail was a dragon. She knew What Eden was, she just thought she'd see it.

Eden set another group of oncoming mares ablaze, staring angrily at them as they fell to sand, taking off back into the shadows to regenerate and lick their wounds. She inhaled another breath to let upon another bunch when the dark figures disappeared entirely.

"What?" Tooth asked herself, flitting a bit higher as the shadows pulled beneath her, receding back to where Pitch still stood upon his pedestal.

"Now that I've got what I wanted, I bid you good day." The man sneered, backing into the last of the shadows before all was left in complete silence.

"Daniel!" Eden shouted, a blue light surrounding her at once as she transformed to the body of a human once again. She ran to her friend's side as he curled in on himself. "Danny? " She said softly, stroking the boy's dark hair.

"Mmmchest hurts a- a little." He whispered, making Eden's head snap up and smile.

"I know I know, but you're okay now." She assured him. The boy's face fell into a state of puzzlement as he reached up and pressed a hand to the side of her head. Tooth fluttered closer to look at what he was staring at.

"Oh sweetie, your head!" She cried, flying closer and feeling the spot where Daniel had rested his hand. A large gash and bruise had split upon the girl's head.

"I'm fine." Eden responded almost annoyed as she shook Tooth's hand away. "Daniel's more hurt than me right now, we need to get him taken care of." She continued, trying to help the boy into a sitting position.

"G-guys?' Daniel managed. Both girls looked down at him. "Where's Jack?"

_**Again sorry for the late Update.**_

_**Please review!**_


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